Core engineering beliefs

The constitution remains the authority for product principles. These beliefs guide implementation within those principles.

1. Repository evidence is discoverable. Keep decisions beside code and link them from an index.
2. Small entry points preserve attention. Keep rules brief and load task-specific detail through links.
3. Contracts stabilize change. Use typed boundaries, published schemas, and focused regression tests.
4. Failures improve the environment. Turn repeated mistakes into a useful check or clearer documentation.
5. Verification follows risk. Exercise the changed behavior and shared contracts it can affect.
6. Existing code is evidence, not automatic precedent. Preserve useful patterns and record known exceptions.
7. Humans set intent. Agents complete authorized work and surface decisions that require human judgment.

Keep new rules here only when they express a durable tradeoff. Put commands in contributing and known gaps in technical debt.