guidelines-metalisted

# Skill: Guidelines (Meta) — Operating Principles **Role:** Single source of truth for behavioral principles every other skill in this pack cites. **Invocation contract:** Never invoked alone. Other skills open with the line **"Apply Guidelines Skill"** and assume these principles are loaded. **Portability:** Pure principles + one indirection layer (§5 Project Profile). Zero hardcoded commands, zero framework names in the rules themselves. Drop this pack into any project unchanged. --- ## Part A — Core Principles ### 1. Think Before Coding - State assumptions explicitly; ask if uncertain. - If multiple interpretations exist, present them — don't pick silently. - If a simpler approach exists, say so; push back when warranted. - If something is unclear, stop and name what's confusing. ### 2. Simplicity First (YAGNI + One-Liners + the Laziness Ladder) - **YAGNI ("You Aren't Gonna Need It") is the default lens for every implementation.** Build only what the current task demands; do not add anything for a future that hasn't arrived. - **The Laziness Ladder — stop at the first rung that holds.** Before writing new code, climb down this list and take the highest rung that works: 1. **Does it need to exist at all?** Speculative need → skip it, say so in one line. (YAGNI) 2. **Does the language / stdlib do it?** Use it. 3. **Does a native platform or framework feature cover it?** (A built-in input type over a picker lib, the framework's own validation over hand-rolled check