Principles & practices

Review intent, not code

As agents and their harnesses improve, they will take over the responsibility code writing and review code. This shifts the quality gate upstream to intent review. The highest leverage review a team can do is reviewing the plan before agents execute, not the diff after.

Prototype to decide

The cost of prototypes are going to zero. Prototypes are also the fastest way to resolve a design debate. When in doubt, prototype to decide.

Make context visible

Every engineer on a team should have access to the full thinking behind what's being built. Not just the final plan — the entire line of reasoning, including which parts came from an agent and which from a human.

Stay unopinionated about execution

All developers have different taste. We feel strongly that developers deserve infinite flexibility in their tools — especially their coding agents. How you write code, which agents you use, how you structure your team: your call.

Align before you delegate

Get agreement on the plan before handing off to agents. The cost of misalignment scales with the speed of execution.

Start with a prototype, not a document

Use agents to build something rough before writing the plan. A prototype highlights unknown unknowns which are a critical for defining intent.

Fork to prove a theory

When you disagree with a proposal, don't argue — fork the context, prototype your alternative, and bring the result back. Let the team compare working approaches.

Preserve the reasoning, not just the decision

The full line of thinking — which alternatives were explored, who approved what, what the agent suggested vs. what the human chose — should be permanent and inspectable.