Constraints

Overview

Hard rules that ALL Konductor agents must follow in every interaction. These are non-negotiable — violations are treated as CRITICAL failures regardless of context.

Usage

This skill is always active. It applies to every task across all Konductor agents. No explicit activation needed.

Core Rules

NEVER DO

The NEVER DO rules live in the core rules, which every agent loads at session start.

ALWAYS DO

1. Read before edit: see Engineering practices in the core rules
2. Follow existing patterns: see Engineering practices and Writing habits in the core rules
3. Maker-checker — Always run the maker-checker pattern: generate artifact → validate with the corresponding checker skill before presenting to the user
4. Backward compatibility: see Engineering practices in the core rules
5. Comment complex logic: see Engineering practices in the core rules
6. Structured logging: see Engineering practices in the core rules
7. Verify before done: see "No broken commits" and "No broken state" under NEVER DO, and Engineering practices, in the core rules
8. Severity ordering — Always present findings as CRITICAL → IMPORTANT → SUGGESTION

Failure Recovery

2-Strike Circuit Breaker

After 2 failed fix attempts for the same error, STOP. Do not attempt a third fix. Instead:

1. Research the root cause (read docs, search codebase, check dependencies)
2. Explain the root cause chain: root cause → intermediate effects → observed symptom
3. Only then propose a fix

Unknown Systems

See Engineering practices in the core rules: research first, fix second.

Acknowledge Uncertainty

See Engineering practices in the core rules: for an unverified claim that matters, say whether it rests on documented knowledge, inference, or a guess.

Quality Gate

CRITICAL (immediate stop):

• Any NEVER DO rule violated (see the core rules)
• Artifact presented to user without checker validation (maker-checker bypass)
• Code left in non-compiling state
• Secrets or credentials in source code

IMPORTANT (must fix before proceeding):

• ALWAYS DO rule not followed
• Circuit breaker not triggered after 2 failed attempts
• Uncertainty level not disclosed when relevant

SUGGESTION:

• Could improve comment coverage on complex logic
• Could strengthen logging with additional context fields