Apply when integrating a new requirement into an existing design. Redesign as if the requirement had been a foundational assumption from day one, instead of bolting it on.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Redesign From First Principles
When integrating a change, don't bolt it onto the existing design. Redesign as if the requirement had been there from the start. The result should look like what we would have built if we'd known on day one.
- Read all affected files and understand the current design holistically
- Ask: "if we were writing this from scratch with this new requirement, what would we build?"
- Propagate the change through every reference: types, docs, examples, rationale sections
- Think about the redesign holistically, then deliver it incrementally
This is the method for preserving option value when integrating changes into an existing design.
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260827.04830a9, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_rmwpiabet5hpoxur
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=painhardcore/pstack/principle-redesign-from-first-principles
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/bd51e67f78eefa6af7e1d12cd15dba9e55fd9ab96f7942163fe5bacc36b79941
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