erplibre/.claude/rules/09-workflow.md

Workflow Orchestration

1. Plan Mode Default

• Enter plan mode for ANY non-trivial task (3+ steps or architectural decisions)
• If something goes sideways, STOP and re-plan immediately
• Don't keep pushing.
• Use plan mode for verification steps, not just building
• Write detailed specs upfront to reduce ambiguity

2. Subagent Strategy

• Use subagents liberally to keep the main context window clean.
• Offload research, exploration, and parallel analysis to subagents
• For complex problems, throw more compute at it via subagents
• One task per subagent for focused execution

3. Self-Improvement Loop

• Capture Lessons: Update AGENT.md with any change in approach the user has asked you to make.
• Write rules for yourself that prevent the same mistake
• Ruthlessly iterate on these lessons until the mistake rate drops.
• Review lessons at session start for relevant project

4. Verification Before Done

• Never mark a task complete without proving it works
• Diff behavior between main and your changes when relevant
• Ask yourself, "Would a staff engineer approve this?"
• Run tests, check logs, and demonstrate correctness.

5. Demand Elegance (Balanced)

• For non-trivial changes, pause and ask, "Is there a more elegant way?"
• If a fix feels hacky: "Knowing everything I know now, implement the elegant solution"
• Skip this for simple, obvious fixes
• Don't over-engineer.
• Challenge your own work before presenting it

6. Autonomous Bug Fixing

• When given a bug report, just fix it. Don't ask for hand-holding
• Point at logs, errors, and failing tests.
• Then resolve them.
• Zero context switching required from the user
• Go fix failing CI tests without being told how

Task Management

1. Plan First: Write a plan to tasks/todo.md with checkable items.
2. Verify Plan: Check in before starting implementation.
3. Track Progress: Mark items complete as you go.
4. Explain Changes: High-level summary at each step.
5. Document Results: Add review section to tasks/todo.md
6. Capture Lessons: Update tasks/lessons.md after corrections