Lifecycle

Principles

• Plan before editing. Read the code and its tests, then make the smallest change that meets the requirement.
• Ask when requirements are ambiguous or the requested scope conflicts with the stated goal.
• Keep one concern per change. Do not mix a bug fix with an enhancement.
• Match existing project style, naming, and test patterns.
• Prefer local logic over a premature shared abstraction. Some duplication is better than the wrong abstraction.
• Say so when a requested pattern does not fit the problem, before implementing it.

Human and AI roles

Step	AI agent	Human
Requirements, architecture	Draft, challenge, list risks	Decide
Specification and plan	Draft phased plan	Approve
Development	Implement approved plan in small steps	Steer
Tests	Write and run	Review coverage of intent
Review	First pass: correctness, security, standards	Final approval where required
Merge and deploy	Prepare the PR	Merge, tag, release

Handoffs

When work moves between agents or sessions, state: the goal, constraints, files involved, what is done, what remains, and the commands that verify it. Mark unknowns TBD.