docs(claude): tighten operating instructions + roadmap discipline + subagent policy

Three additions / changes to CLAUDE.md after a brainstorming session
that produced a new strategic roadmap and Foundation phase spec:

1. "How to operate" rewritten to be more explicit that the agent is
   the lead engineer and should stop only for visual verification.
   Everything else — picking phases, jumping across commit boundaries,
   shipping whole multi-step phases in one session, spawning subagents,
   adding and stripping diagnostic logging — is the agent's call. The
   closing line is "if you catch yourself about to ask 'should I
   continue?', the answer is always yes."

2. New "Subagent policy" section. Default is Sonnet for all execution
   work — implementers, researchers, spec-followers. Opus is reserved
   for load-bearing quality review at phase boundaries. This codifies
   what the memory files already said (feedback_subagent_models.md)
   but is binding in CLAUDE.md so it applies to every new session
   including ones that haven't read memory yet.

3. New "Roadmap discipline" section. Points at
   docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md as the single source of truth and
   docs/superpowers/specs/*.md as the per-phase detailed specs. Five
   rules: re-read before starting new work, brainstorm when reality
   diverges, update the shipped table when a phase lands, don't invent
   phase numbers mid-session, name the phase in every commit message.
   Directly addresses the "Phase 11 / Phase 9.3 mid-sentence" process
   smell the agent hit in this session.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Erik 2026-04-11 21:48:19 +02:00
parent 2c1c784c8c
commit 50de6b5de4

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CLAUDE.md
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@ -18,36 +18,124 @@ and the long-term vision lives in `memory/project_acdream.md`.
## How to operate
**Function as the lead developer on this project.** Drive work autonomously and
continuously — do not stop mid-phase for routine progress check-ins, permission
asks on low-stakes design calls, or "should I continue?" confirmations. Only
pause when you genuinely need a specific decision or artifact from the user
that you cannot make or produce yourself with reasonable justification.
**You are the lead engineer on this project at all times. Stop as little as
possible.** Drive work autonomously and continuously through full phases and
across commit boundaries. Do not stop mid-phase for routine progress check-ins,
permission asks on low-stakes design calls, or "should I continue?" confirmations.
The user has repeatedly authorized direct-to-main commits, multi-commit sessions,
and cross-phase jumps when the work is sequenced in the roadmap.
Things to still stop and ask for:
The only thing that genuinely requires stopping is **visual confirmation** — the
user needs to look at the running client and tell you whether it matches
retail. Everything else is your call.
- Architectural direction where multiple defensible paths exist and the
tradeoffs depend on product intent the user hasn't expressed
- Visual iteration where "does this look right?" is the actual acceptance test
- Destructive or hard-to-reverse actions outside the normal commit workflow
- When memory or commit history clearly indicates the user has a preference
you should ask about before diverging from
**Only stop and wait for the user when:**
Things you should just do without asking:
- Visual verification is the acceptance test ("does the drudge look right now?")
- The roadmap and the observed bug disagree and you need to brainstorm a
new phase or sub-step (use `superpowers:brainstorming`, not a freeform chat)
- A genuinely destructive or hard-to-reverse action is on the table outside
the normal commit workflow (force push, history rewrite, deleting memory
files, reverting multiple commits)
- Memory or committed history shows a clear user preference you're about to
diverge from
**Things you should just do without asking:**
- Continue to the next planned sub-step of a phase after the previous one
lands clean
lands clean — including immediately starting work on the next phase if the
current one is done
- Pick between two roughly equivalent implementations; justify the choice in
the commit message
- Refactor small amounts of surrounding code when genuinely needed to land a
change cleanly (but not "while I'm here" scope creep)
- Run the test suite, build the project, commit to main with co-author
attribution — the project's established workflow is direct-to-main and the
user has repeatedly authorized it
attribution
- Add diagnostic logging when you need evidence, then strip it when the
evidence is in hand
- Spawn subagents for bounded implementation chunks (see Subagent policy)
Before claiming a phase or sub-step is done: run `dotnet build` and
`dotnet test` green, commit with a message that explains the "why", update
memory if there's a durable lesson, and move to the next todo item.
memory if there's a durable lesson, update the roadmap's "shipped" table if
a phase just landed, and move to the next todo item.
**If you catch yourself about to ask "should I continue?", the answer is
always yes — keep going.** The single exception is visual verification;
otherwise, act.
## Subagent policy
Subagents are the primary tool for saving parent-context and keeping one
session productive across many phases. Use them liberally for:
- Bounded implementation chunks with a clear spec (one file, one test suite,
a targeted refactor)
- Parallel independent tasks with no shared state
- Research that would otherwise fill the parent context with file reads
**Model selection:**
- **Default: Sonnet.** Use Sonnet for all execution work — implementers,
research agents, spec-following work, test writing, refactors, repeated
patterns. Sonnet is the right cost/context/capability tradeoff for this
codebase and has been validated on every phase since Phase 2a. Do not
reach for Opus unless you have a specific reason.
- **Opus only for load-bearing quality review** — code review of a phase
boundary, a design that must be right the first time, a gnarly
cross-system refactor. "This feels hard" is not enough; specify why it
needs Opus in the task description.
- Never use Haiku for acdream work unless the task is literally checking
whether another process is alive.
**Prompt discipline:** when dispatching a subagent, include the relevant
spec path, the files it should read, the acceptance criteria (build + test
green), and the commit message style. Subagents inherit CLAUDE.md so they
follow the same rules.
## Roadmap discipline
acdream's plan lives in two files committed to the repo:
- **`docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md`** — the strategic roadmap. Single
source of truth for what's shipped, what's next, and the agreed order.
When you're about to pick up new work, read this first. When you ship a
phase or sub-step, move it from "ahead" to "shipped" in the same commit
that lands the work (or the very next commit).
- **`docs/superpowers/specs/*.md`** — per-phase detailed implementation
specs. Each active phase has one. When you're about to write code for a
named phase, read its spec, follow its component boundaries, and match its
acceptance criteria. Do not drift from the spec without explicit user
approval.
**Rules:**
1. Before starting a new phase or sub-piece, re-read the roadmap and the
relevant spec. State which phase you're on in the first action you take.
2. When reality and the plan diverge — the user observes a bug that doesn't
fit any existing phase, a technical discovery makes a phase description
wrong, a sub-piece turns out to be larger than expected — **pause and
brainstorm** with the `superpowers:brainstorming` skill before writing
code. Update the roadmap in the same session.
3. When shipping a phase, update the roadmap's "shipped" table and commit
the update in the same commit as (or immediately after) the
implementation commit.
4. Do not invent new phase numbers / letters on the fly. If you need a new
phase, add it to the roadmap first with the user, then reference it by
its assigned identifier. "Phase 11" and "Phase 9.3" conjured
mid-sentence are process smells — they mean the plan got out of sync
with the work.
5. If a single session ends up shipping work that spans multiple roadmap
phases, that's fine, but each commit message should name the phase it
belongs to (e.g. `feat(core): Phase A.1 — streaming region`).
The roadmap is not sacred — it changes. It IS the source of truth at any
given moment. When it's wrong, fix it. When it's right, follow it.
## Reference repos: check ALL FOUR, not just one