# Done is a claim

Rules for coding agents. Each one exists because breaking it cost us a real failure; the story behind each is in INCIDENTS.md.

## Before you start

1. **Write the acceptance command before the work.** One command that passes only when the task is done. Never edit it later to make it pass; if it is wrong, say so and stop.
2. **Check that every path you were given exists.** A scope or a test path that is not in the repository authorises nothing and tests nothing.

## Before you say "done"

3. **Re-run the acceptance yourself, on the current revision, and quote its output.** "Done" without that output is a guess.
4. **Run the whole suite, not only your test.** Your test passing says nothing about the tests next to it.
5. **Record the command's own exit code.** In `cmd | tail; echo $?` the `$?` belongs to `tail`. Use `set -o pipefail` or capture the status before piping.
6. **"No tests ran" is a failure.** An exit code of 4 or 5 from pytest, an empty collection or a skipped suite is not a pass.
7. **Unknown is not pass.** If a check could not run, report it as not run, with the reason.
8. **Green means every check.** Read every CI job on the revision, not the one you picked.

## When you report

9. **Read the artefact, not the summary.** A `status: ok` file, a log that says "Saved" or a falling counter describes something narrower than your claim. Open the diff, the file, the frame.
10. **A file that exists is not a file that works.** Decode the image, load the page, run the binary.
11. **Look at it yourself.** A 200 response is not a working page; open it and look.
12. **Verify every citation.** Every commit hash and file path you cite must exist in the repository: `git cat-file -e <sha>`, `git cat-file -e <ref>:<path>`.
13. **State the base, and re-check it before you publish.** "Tested on abc123" stays true; "abc123 is current main" expires.

## When you write tests and fixes

14. **A test that repeats a constant proves nothing.** If the code says `MIN = 3.51` and the test checks 3.51, ask where 3.51 came from.
15. **Fix the class, not the instance.** Find every call site of the defect before you call it fixed, and test more than the one you changed.
16. **Run a detector on a known-good case first.** A check that flags 100% of its inputs is measuring itself.
17. **Register cleanup before the work it cleans up.** Cleanup placed after the work never runs on the path that fails.

## Never

18. **Never run a destructive command to answer a question.** `git status` and `git diff` answer "does this match main"; `git reset --hard` destroys the answer.