AGENTS.md · git:20261026.c3d584e · 2026-10-26 · sha256 e0f5075a3a35d978

AGENTS.md git:20261026.c3d584eA

Immutable. This exact content never changes and is served at /api/v1/blob/e0f5075a3a35d978.

# AGENTS.md — working on the mutineer gem

Conventions for any agent or contributor changing this repo. (Usage docs for
*consumers* live in `README.md` and `docs/`; this file is about developing the gem.)

## Non-negotiables

- **Zero runtime dependencies — Prism + stdlib only.** Never add a runtime gem.
  Dev-only deps (minitest, rake, yard) are fine. Ruby **≥ 3.4** (Prism ships with it).
- **No `eval`.** Removed in 0.6.1 (supply-chain scanner flag). The redefine strategy
  `load`s a tempfile snippet instead — don't reintroduce `eval`.
- **Least astonishment.** Names match behaviour, no hidden side effects, explicit
  failures over silent ones. Match the surrounding code's idiom.
- **Never release, tag, or publish.** Do not push a `v*` tag, merge a release
  PR, run a release workflow, or `gem push`. A release needs a human
  collaborator with maintain or admin permission. The procedure is "Releasing"
  below.

## Before every commit (local gate)

```sh
bundle exec rake test                          # zero-dep suite
ruby -Ilib -e 'require "mutineer"'             # load smoke
bundle exec rake yard:strict                    # 100% documented — see below
```

The default `Gemfile` pins Minitest 5. For changes to the Minitest
integration, also run the suite on Minitest 6:

```sh
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/minitest6.gemfile bundle install
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/minitest6.gemfile bundle exec rake test
```

- **`yard:strict` requires 100% documentation, including private methods AND
  constants.** Every new method and constant needs a YARD docstring / `#` comment
  or CI fails.
- **Rails-dependent tests run via `bundle exec rake test:daemon`**, never the
  zero-dep default. The gem's own suite stays Rails-free; `test/fixtures/rails_app`
  has its OWN bundle. `rake test:daemon` runs in the rails-integration CI job.
- Subprocesses use plain `bundle exec` — never hardcode `rbenv exec` (breaks CI and
  non-rbenv users).

## Website checks

For changes to the GitHub Pages site or its tests, also run:

```sh
bundle exec rake site:build
node --test test/site_test.js
npm ci --prefix test/browser
npx --prefix test/browser playwright install chromium
npm test --prefix test/browser
```

`rake site:build` writes the published tree to `_site/` — the YARD API docs,
`sitemap.xml`, `llms-full.txt`, and `json-schema.html` are build artifacts, not
committed files under `docs/`. The checks above read `_site/`, so build first.

These development-only checks require Node.js 22+, npm, and Python 3.
Playwright starts a local server on port 8766; keep that port free so the
checks run against this checkout. The gem and its default Rake suite remain
independent of Node and Playwright. CI runs these checks in `website browser tests`.

## CI gates that block merge

`yard:strict` · `test` (×2 OS) · `test (minitest 6)` · `rails dogfood` + daemon integration · `website browser tests` · socket/gitguardian.

## PR review gate (before any merge)

Applies to every open pull request, including a stack. Do not merge until
the current head meets this bar.

### Before opening a new pull request

Run the checks in "Before every commit". For a site change, run the website
checks too. Open the pull request when those checks pass.

After a later commit, run the checks that the new lines affect.

### After the pull request is open

1. Read every review comment. Fix a real finding, or write why the comment
   is wrong.
2. Reply on every thread before resolving it. A fix reply names the commit.
   A decline reply gives the reason.
3. GitHub checks are green on the head commit.
4. A person merges.

**Stacked pull requests:** start at the bottom of the stack. After a lower
pull request changes, update the ones above it and review the new lines.

## Releasing (manual — maintainers only)

Nothing in this repo releases, tags, or publishes on a schedule or from a bot
trigger. Pushing a `vX.Y.Z` tag leaves the gem unpublished. v1.7.0 shipped
because that tag push started `release.yml` with no approval gate. Keep a tag
push from starting a publish: do not add a `schedule`, a `workflow_run`, or a
tag-push trigger to either release workflow.

A person may start a release workflow only when GitHub reports them as a
human collaborator with maintain or admin on this repository. The workflow
reads that from the collaborator permission API at runtime. Adding a
maintainer is a GitHub permission change. The workflow file does not name
anyone. Write, triage, and read cannot start a release. Bots cannot either.
The legacy API field `permission` maps the maintain role to `write`, so the
check uses `user.permissions.maintain`, `user.permissions.admin`, and
`role_name` of `admin` or `maintain`.

**Agents must never:**

- push a `v*` tag, including `vX.Y.Z` and the floating major tags (`v1`, `v2`, …)
- merge a pull request whose branch is `release/v*`
- run `.github/workflows/release-pr.yml` or `.github/workflows/release.yml`
  (`gh workflow run`, the Actions UI, or another workflow)
- run `gem push`, or create a GitHub Release

Tell a maintainer the steps below when a task needs a release. Do not perform
them. A schedule is not a substitute: GitHub records a cron run's actor as the
last person who edited the workflow, and that person may be a maintainer, so
a permission check would not stop a cron. The schedule is deleted. Do not add
it back, and do not run `gh workflow enable` to restore a Monday release.

Semver: **new feature → minor bump, fix → patch.** A behavior change to the
GitHub Action's defaults is a **major** bump: consumers pin `@v<major>`, and a
default flip must never reach them without opting in.

A maintainer does every step:

1. Prepare the pull request when they want a batch, from `main`:
   ```sh
   gh workflow run release-pr.yml --ref main
   ```
   `release-pr.yml` runs only for a `workflow_dispatch` started by a human
   with maintain or admin. It bumps `lib/mutineer/version.rb`, dates the
   CHANGELOG, and opens a PR. It does not tag or publish. It rebuilds
   `release/vX.Y.Z` from current `main` only when `main` has moved. A run
   that finds the branch already based on current `main` leaves that branch
   as it is. It still dispatches `ci.yml` when
   the push used `GITHUB_TOKEN` (issue #234). That dispatch runs tests only.
2. Review and merge that PR. Merging leaves the gem unpublished.
   Leave repository auto-merge off.
3. Tag the merged commit and push the tag:
   ```sh
   git tag vX.Y.Z && git push origin vX.Y.Z
   ```
   A tag push leaves the gem unpublished. It does not start `release.yml`.
4. Publish from that tag, with the confirm word:
   ```sh
   gh workflow run release.yml --ref vX.Y.Z -f confirm=publish
   ```
   The publish job starts only when the actor is a human with maintain or
   admin, the event is `workflow_dispatch`, the ref is a tag, and `confirm`
   is `publish`. That check runs before the job asks for environment approval.
5. Approve the `rubygems` GitHub environment when Actions asks. That approval
   publishes. The job then checks the tag against `Mutineer::VERSION`, runs
   tests, pushes the gem with Trusted Publishing, creates the GitHub Release,
   and force-moves the floating major tag (`v1`, `v2`, …) so
   `uses: …@v<major>` follows the latest release in that line. The floating-tag
   update is the last step of this approved job. It is one tag move inside the
   publish a maintainer already approved.

While one person is the only required reviewer, that person may start the
workflow and approve it. Once a second maintainer is a required reviewer,
turn on the environment's **Prevent self-review** option so the approver is
someone other than the starter. Leave that option off until then: if it is
on while only one reviewer can approve, that reviewer cannot approve their
own run, and the publish cannot finish. The workflow does not enforce the split.

Safety nets:

- The **tag must equal `Mutineer::VERSION`**, and it must be a stable
  `vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH` tag, or the job aborts before `gem push` and does not
  move the floating major tag.
- **`release-pr.yml` opens a PR only when a maintainer runs it.** It never
  replaces a release branch that holds someone else's commits, or that has a
  PR it did not open (it leaves that branch alone with a warning), and it
  never closes a release PR it did not open. A merge commit counts as someone
  else's commit: GitHub's "Update branch" button pauses the next rebuild
  until that PR is merged or its branch is deleted. If `VERSION` on `main`
  differs from the latest tag, the run warns and opens nothing. If the
  computed `vX.Y.Z` tag already exists on origin, it fails and a maintainer
  resolves it by hand.
- **CI on the release PR** still needs a dispatch when the branch was pushed
  with the default `GITHUB_TOKEN`: that push starts no other workflow, so the
  job dispatches `ci.yml` on the release branch and those runs report the
  required checks on the PR's head commit. With an optional `RELEASE_PR_TOKEN`
  PAT secret, the push triggers CI itself and the dispatch is skipped. If the
  checks are missing, run `gh workflow run ci.yml --ref release/vX.Y.Z`. That
  command runs CI only.

**Settings a maintainer applies by hand.** They live in GitHub and on
RubyGems, not in this repo. Do them in this order, before the next tag. A
`v*.*.*` tag on a commit whose `release.yml` still triggers on tag push (any
commit from before this change) still starts that old workflow. This file
cannot edit those commits. Requiring the `rubygems` environment on the
trusted publisher makes that old `gem push` fail, because the old job omits
`environment:`.

1. Create the GitHub environment `rubygems`. Required reviewers are the
   maintainers, not one named account. On an organization repository, use a
   team such as `release-maintainers` whose members have maintain or admin.
   On a personal repository, teams are unavailable, so list the individual
   users who have maintain or admin. Adding a person later is a team or
   reviewer change, not a workflow change. Turn off "Allow administrators to
   bypass configured protection rules", so an admin cannot skip the approval.
   Leave **Prevent self-review** off until at least two of those reviewers
   exist, then turn it on. Under deployment branches and tags, allow tags
   matching `v*.*.*`, or leave the policy unrestricted. Leave "Protected
   branches only" unset: the publish job runs on a tag, and that policy would
   block it. Create this environment before any publish run. GitHub otherwise
   creates a missing environment with no required reviewers, and the job
   continues.
2. On <https://rubygems.org/gems/mutineer>, edit the Trusted Publisher for
   the GitHub account that owns this repository, repo `mutineer`, workflow
   `release.yml`. Set the GitHub Actions environment name to `rubygems`. The
   new workflow's OIDC token carries that environment. Do this after the
   required reviewers are saved. From then on, a workflow whose job omits
   `environment:` cannot `gem push`, and a run of the new workflow waits for
   a reviewer.
3. Add a tag ruleset for `v*.*.*`. Its bypass list is the repository roles
   Maintain and Admin, not a named user. Keep the floating major tag (`v1`,
   `v2`, …) out of any rule that blocks `github-actions`: the approved
   publish job updates that tag with `GITHUB_TOKEN` after the gem is already
   on RubyGems. Leave auto-merge disabled (`allow_auto_merge` is false today).

## Shift-left rules (from the 2026-10 PR audit)

These rules come from a postmortem of issues #252, #253, and #254 and an
audit of every merged PR. They stop the defect patterns that reached users.
The rule text lives in one place: `.expectation-fit/ways-of-working.yaml`.
Reviewers who use the expectation-fit plugin apply it with `/fit-review`;
every other reviewer, human or bot, applies the same file by hand. Score terms
are defined in "Score-model discipline" below. Issue #282 tracks the remaining
ordering gaps: RSpec random order and Minitest class order across selected files.

The eight rules, by title: **Track every limitation** - **Cover the
siblings** - **Gate on unrounded values** - **Count what you exclude** -
**Estimate exclusion frequency** - **One seed contract** - **Assert the
mechanism** - **Repro becomes fixture**.

## Score-model discipline (don't regress this)

`score = killed / (killed + survived)`. `no_coverage`, `uncapturable`, `unplaceable`, `ran_at_load`, `ignored`,
`skipped`, `errored` are ALL excluded from the denominator. Empty denominator → `nil`,
never `0.0`. The exact-survivor integration oracle must stay green.

A new status for a mutant that exists but could not run ships with a count in the report and a
place in the unrun share (`AggregateResult#unrun_count`, the stderr warning above 10%). A new place
where an operator declines a candidate calls `decline` (`Mutators::Base`), so it is counted in
`summary.declined_by_operator`.