project_design_guides

A simple rulebook for an AI agent to build high-quality, consistent software.

This repository provides a set of clear, machine-readable rules that guide an AI through common development tasks, from writing documentation to designing tests.

The Guides

This project provides five core documents, designed to live in a _guidelines folder:

• CONTRIBUTING.md: The main instruction manual for the AI.
• DEV_DOC_SOP.md: Rules for documentation (APIs, requirements, etc.).
• TESTING_SOP.md: Rules for test file structure and formatting.
• TEST_CASE_DESIGN_SOP.md: Rules for how to design good tests.
• TEST_CODE_IMPLEMENTATION_SOP.md: Rules for the test runner's output and logging.

How to Use

Follow these three steps to integrate this rulebook into your own project:

1. Add the Guides

Clone this repository into a _guidelines directory in your project's root:

# Replace with your repository's URL
git clone https://github.com/Lancelotmay/project_design_guides.git _guidelines

2. Ignore the Guides in Git

Add /_guidelines to your project's root .gitignore file. This keeps its history separate from your project's.

# .gitignore

/_guidelines

3. Set the AI's Instructions

Copy the main instruction file into your project's root. This is the first file the AI will read.

cp _guidelines/CONTRIBUTING.md ./CONTRIBUTING.md

Your project is now ready. The AI will use the CONTRIBUTING.md to understand its workflow and consult the rules in _guidelines for every task.

How It Works

The CONTRIBUTING.md file instructs the AI to follow a simple, two-step engineering workflow:

1. Decompose Task: Break any complex request into a simple checklist.
2. Execute using SOPs: For each item on the checklist, consult the appropriate rulebook in _guidelines.

This ensures every action is deliberate and follows the project's standards.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3). Please be aware of the terms of this license when integrating these guides into your own projects.