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Comment by nimonian

15 hours ago

I do quite a lot of what this post describes in a reasonably large project. Here's what works for me:

- write gherkin features for new features; update them for enhancements; don't touch them for refactors. Label your PRs with these nouns.

- use pre-push hooks for type checks, linting, unit tests, and other quick, scriptable validations.

- make a viteperess subsite in your repo, have the agents maintain it - document important principles, architecture, etc.

- make a cli command which lists all pages along with the yaml frontmatter description so agents can choose what to read without blowing up the context window.

- use ddd and monorepo - write your logic in headless layers, and compose layers into apps. agents navigate layers very successfully.

- use zod (or your language equivalent) and contract-first API development; this is my favourite bit tbh, I use orpc

- make a single skill called "code" which describes the lifecycle: open a worktree, setup .env to guarantee no conflict with other agents (choose unused ports etc - docker is good here), write or update feature file (this is where you negotiate the spec), implement, validate (e.g. using playwright mcp), pre-push checks, push and wait for review, tear down and fast forward main

- testcontainers is great for ensuring multiple agents can run tests that don't conflict

Seriously I only have one skill that's it. Everything else is in the docs. I'm feeling very productive like this, in a "making good software" sense not a LoC sense.

Can you share your skill please?

  • I agree with many of the points made by nimonian above (esp the one starting with 'make a single skill called "code" which describes the lifecycle'), based on my limited experience with these things.

    I'm building a skill + CLI tool along those lines (for solo devs not corporates). Here is what my "lifecycle" type skill looks like right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QFHIoCo-Ko

  • That's a big ask. This kind of harness usually contains plenty of proprietary insights about their business. And also, nowadays, a good harness is a major competitive advantage.