engineering-principles SKILL.md skillA
engineering-principles from cypher0n3/dotagents is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add cypher0n3/dotagents/engineering-principles@git:20261019.04fa1e7Pins git:20261019.04fa1e7 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- cypher0n3/dotagents
- Path
skills/engineering-principles/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20261019.04fa1e7, committed Oct 19, 2026
- First version recorded
- Oct 11, 2026
- Size
- 11,456 bytes
- Repository stars
- 3
- License
- a license file GitHub does not identify
Applies good engineering principles and working preferences to coding, design, review, infrastructure, and tooling work. Use this skill when working on any code, system design, infrastructure, or technical decision.
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
# Engineering Principles ## Authority and Precedence - The user's direct instruction in the current session outranks this skill. - This skill outranks your own inference or training. - A repository's own `AGENTS.md`, `meta.md`, specs, lint configs, and documented conventions override these principles for that repository. - When this skill and an existing skill overlap, both apply; this skill does not replace `senior-developer`, `go-developer`, `just-ci`, `make-commit`, `code-review-precision`, `markdown-writer`, `strip-ai-tells`, `grill-me`, `requirements-authoring`, `spec-authoring`, `feature-files-authoring`, or `tech-specs-update`. ## Building Systems ### Write Contract Before Code Requirements state intent, specifications state mechanism, code satisfies both. A gap among them is a defect in whichever one is wrong; never lower the higher text to match the code. A specified but unbuilt capability is debt with a name, and a capability silently dropped from a "first slice" is a broken contract. Only the user defers scope. When the code proves the better design, change the contract on purpose so all three agree again. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add cypher0n3/dotagents/engineering-principles@sha256:716fe3e1f9dd1bf4The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261019.04fa1e7, 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.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_yta5ovmrdooymlie)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Oct 11, 2026 and Oct 19, 2026, about one every 8 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261019.04fa1e7 latest | 2026-10-19 | 04fa1e7 | 11,456 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261011.bfb9dff | 2026-10-11 | bfb9dff | 11,147 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (11456 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
cypher0n3/dotagents · 3 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_yta5ovmrdooymlie GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=cypher0n3/dotagents/engineering-principles GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/716fe3e1f9dd1bf465a1efeafa18e0d513d9a5fb10e721dd5330551fad01995b
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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