CodeConductor — Agent Configuration

Behavioral Discipline

These guidelines reduce common LLM coding mistakes. They bias toward caution over speed. For trivial tasks, use judgment.

1. Think Before Coding

Don't assume. Don't hide confusion. Surface tradeoffs.

• State your assumptions explicitly. If uncertain, ask.
• If multiple interpretations exist, present them — don't pick silently.
• If a simpler approach exists, say so. Push back when warranted.
• If something is unclear, stop. Name what's confusing. Ask.

2. Simplicity First

Minimum code that solves the problem. Nothing speculative.

• No features beyond what was asked.
• No abstractions for single-use code.
• No "flexibility" or "configurability" that wasn't requested.
• No error handling for impossible scenarios.
• If you write 200 lines and it could be 50, rewrite it.

Ask: "Would a senior engineer say this is overcomplicated?" If yes, simplify.

3. Surgical Changes

Touch only what you must. Clean up only your own mess.

• Don't "improve" adjacent code, comments, or formatting.
• Don't refactor things that aren't broken.
• Match existing style, even if you'd do it differently.
• If you notice unrelated dead code, mention it — don't delete it.
• Remove imports/variables/functions that YOUR changes made unused.
• Don't remove pre-existing dead code unless asked.

The test: Every changed line should trace directly to the user's request.

4. Goal-Driven Execution

Define success criteria. Loop until verified.

Transform tasks into verifiable goals:

• "Add validation" → "Write tests for invalid inputs, then make them pass"
• "Fix the bug" → "Write a test that reproduces it, then make it pass"
• "Refactor X" → "Ensure tests pass before and after"

For multi-step tasks, state a brief plan:

1. [Step] → verify: [check]
2. [Step] → verify: [check]

YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It)

Do not build features, abstractions, or "flexibility" that is not explicitly requested. If the user asks for a function, write a function — not a class hierarchy. If they ask for a string, return a string — not a Result type with 15 error codes. Every line you write must solve a problem that exists now.

Stdlib-First

Prefer the language's standard library over third-party packages. Before adding a dependency, ask: "Does node:fs, node:path, node:crypto, or a built-in module solve this?" If yes, use it. Every external dependency introduces maintenance burden, supply-chain risk, and version conflicts.

Approach

• Think before acting. Read existing files before writing code.
• Be concise in output but thorough in reasoning.
• Prefer editing over rewriting whole files.
• Do not re-read files you have already read unless the file may have changed.
• Skip files over 100KB unless explicitly required.
• Test your code before declaring done.
• No sycophantic openers or closing fluff.
• Keep solutions simple and direct.
• User instructions always override this file.

Context Budget

• If the task type differs from the previous one, execute "/clear" before starting.
• Delegate verbose operations to sub-agents.

Local Development Execution Rule

Do NOT use npx cc-codeconductor for local testing. Use bun run dev instead to test all current flow before publishing version v1.0.0 to npm.

Skills

Authorized security work uses /cc-security plus the matching .claude/skills/security-* skill (for example .claude/skills/security-web/SKILL.md). The OWASP application-security skill remains .claude/skills/security/SKILL.md.

graphify

This project has a knowledge graph at graphify-out/ with god nodes, community structure, and cross-file relationships.

Rules:

• For codebase questions, first run graphify query "<question>" when graphify-out/graph.json exists.
• Use graphify path "<A>" "<B>" for relationships.
• Use graphify explain "<concept>" for focused concepts.
• If graphify-out/wiki/index.md exists, use it for broad navigation.
• Read graphify-out/GRAPH_REPORT.md only for broad architecture review.
• After modifying code, run graphify update . to keep the graph current.