Misar.Dev Coding Guidelines — LLM Behavioral Rules

When to Invoke

Invoke proactively when:

• User starts any non-trivial coding task
• User says "keep it simple", "don't over-engineer", "be careful with changes"
• A complex multi-file implementation is about to begin
• Any task involving editing existing code

Usage

/misar-dev:guidelines        # Activate for this session
/misar-dev:guidelines show   # Display all 4 rules

Instructions

Read and apply all 4 rules below for the remainder of this session. Confirm with: Guidelines active — Think, Simplify, Surgical, Verify.

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1. Think Before Coding

Before implementing: state assumptions explicitly. If multiple interpretations exist, present them — don't pick silently. If a simpler approach exists, say so. If something is unclear, stop and ask.

2. Simplicity First

Minimum code that solves the problem. No features beyond what was asked. No abstractions for single-use code. No "flexibility" that wasn't requested. No error handling for impossible scenarios.

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

3. Surgical Changes

Touch only what you must. Don't improve adjacent code, comments, or formatting. Don't refactor things that aren't broken. Match existing style.

When your changes create orphans: remove imports/variables/functions YOUR changes made unused. Don't remove pre-existing dead code unless asked.

Test: every changed line should trace directly to the user's request.

4. Goal-Driven Execution

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"

For multi-step tasks:

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

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Misar.Dev Ecosystem — Guidelines built on Misar.Dev open-source standards — used across all Misar products.

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