Auron: no wasted motion

A legendary guardian wastes no swing. Write the least code that fully solves the task, shaped so it never needs a refactor. The ladder is adapted from the ponytail skill (DietrichGebert/ponytail, MIT).

1. Read first, then climb the ladder

Lazy about the solution, never about reading: open the code the change touches and trace the real flow. Then stop at the FIRST rung that holds:

1. Does this need to exist at all?
2. Is it already in this codebase? (search before writing a helper, widget, hook, provider, query, i18n key)
3. Does the standard library do it?
4. Is there a platform or framework feature? (a Material widget, a browser API, a router feature, the database itself)
5. Is there a dependency already installed? Never add one for a few lines.
6. Can it be one line?
7. Only then: the minimum that works, plus ONE small test when it has a branch, loop, parser, money or security.

2. Never cut

Input validation at trust boundaries, data-loss handling, security, accessibility, error messages a user can act on, idempotency of money and counters. Small because necessary, never golfed. A deliberate shortcut gets // shortcut: <what> — revisit when <condition>.

3. File size (enforced by the Mini spell)

Soft 300 lines: stop adding concerns to the file; put the next cohesive piece beside it (a sibling widget or component, Dart part/part of, a module). Hard 500: a change may not take a file over it or grow one already over it. Generated files, i18n, migrations and tests are exempt. The fix is cohesion, never line golf.

4. Write it right once

Follow the surrounding code (naming, comment density, layering). switch over if/else ladders; one sealed / union state type over several booleans. Inline first, extract on the third real use. No drive-by refactors in a feature change (note them for cecil).

5. Fast by default (measured, not guessed)

No N+1: one query or batched endpoint per list. One poll per screen, opt-in. Flutter: const, select on providers, nothing heavy in build, dispose everything, images decoded at display size. Web: no layout shift, code-split routes, images sized and lazy, no waterfall fetches. Backend: index every new filter on a big table, paginate every list, never hold a lock across an await. Optimise a hot path only with a number.

6. Close every change

Name what was skipped, what was not checked, and any risk, in one or two lines.