passepartout/org/programming-standards.org

#+TITLE: SKILL: Engineering Standards (org-skill-engineering-standards.org)
#+AUTHOR: Agent
#+FILETAGS: :system:engineering:chaos:
#+DEPENDS_ON: org-skill-utils-lisp
#+PROPERTY: header-args:lisp :tangle ../lisp/programming-standards.lisp

* Overview
The *Engineering Standards Skill* defines the REPL-first engineering lifecycle and enforces technical invariants, including the **Commit-Before-Modify** rule and **Chaos-Driven Development**.

** Engineering Lifecycle (Two-Track)

The canonical workflow. Two tracks, not to be confused:

*** Track 1 — Org-First: Prose, Tests, Thinking (Phases 0/A)

This track stays in Org. No code is written yet.

**** Phase 0: Exploration & Documentation
1. Read the relevant Org source files for context
2. Explore the problem in the running REPL with ~repl-inspect~ and ~repl-eval~
3. Document findings in Org prose
4. If a bug: document investigation in Org before fixing (Org as thinking medium)

**** Phase A: Test-First Design
1. Write the success criteria in Org prose — what the function does, arguments, return value, rationale
2. Write the FiveAM test in a ~#+begin_src lisp :tangle no~ block
3. Tangle the test and evaluate in the REPL — confirm it fails (red)
4. The failing test is the success criteria. Do not proceed to Track 2 until it exists and is red.

*** Track 2 — REPL-First: Implementation, Iteration, Reflection (Phases B/C/D/E)

Code is prototyped in the REPL, never written directly into Org first.

**** Phase B/C: REPL Implementation
1. Write the function directly in the REPL using ~repl-eval~
2. Iterate: evaluate, inspect, fix, re-evaluate — the image accumulates state
3. Run the test in the REPL — confirm green
4. Explore edge cases with ~repl-inspect~ and ad-hoc evaluations
5. Before writing any ~defun~ in an Org block, verify it was prototyped and tested in the REPL first

**** Phase D: Chaos Verification
Run the appropriate chaos tier before reflecting code back to Org:
- *Tier 1 (Deterministic)*: Full FiveAM test suite — required on every change
- *Tier 2 (Probabilistic)*: Randomized fuzzing — required on every major release
- *Tier 3 (Stress)*: Load and resource starvation — required during hardening sprints

**** Phase E: Reflect Back to Org
1. Copy the working function into its own ~#+begin_src lisp~ block in the Org file
2. Update the prose to match what the function actually does (arguments, return, rationale)
3. Before closing Phase E, run ~(utils-lisp-validate (uiop:read-file-string "path/to/file.lisp") :strict t)~ in the REPL — never external scripts or manual paren-counting
4. Verify the Org file tangles correctly
5. Tangle, commit, update GTD

**** Syntax Error Protocol
If a LOADER ERROR or reader-error occurs:
1. Run ~(utils-lisp-validate (uiop:read-file-string "file.lisp") :strict t)~ in the REPL — never Python, never grep, never manual counting
2. Fix the error in the Org file (since the code was prototyped in REPL first, this should be rare)
3. Retangle and re-evaluate

Rationale: The two tracks prevent the two failure modes we have observed. Writing implementation code directly in Org (without REPL prototyping) produces syntax errors that require external tools to debug. Skipping Org-first test writing produces code without verified success criteria. The split is not bureaucratic — it is the mechanism by which both failures are prevented.

** GTD Conventions

Every task headline in the project's ROADMAP.org and gtd.org follows these rules:

1. **:ID:** — generated by ~memory-id-generate~ (UUIDv4 with ~id-~ prefix), never written manually. Use ~(memory-id-generate)~ in the REPL to produce one.
2. **:CREATED:** — ISO-8601 timestamp: ~[2026-05-02 Sat 14:30]~. Set when the headline is first created, never changed.
3. **:LOGBOOK:** — each state transition is logged: ~- State "DONE" from "TODO" [2026-05-02 Sat 15:00]~.
4. **CLOSED:** — set when the task reaches DONE: ~CLOSED: [2026-05-02 Sat 15:00]~.
5. **TODO keywords** follow the standard sequence: ~TODO~ → ~NEXT~ → ~IN-PROGRESS~ → ~DONE~ / ~BLOCKED~ / ~CANCELLED~.
6. **The Agent** updates these automatically during Phase E of the lifecycle. The human never needs to write a UUID or timestamp manually — the agent generates and inserts them.

Example:

#+begin_src org
*** DONE Event Orchestrator
:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       id-4a2b9c8f-3d7e-4f12-a9b0-1c2d3e4f5a6b
:CREATED:  [2026-05-02 Sat]
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE" from "TODO" [2026-05-02 Sat 18:00]
:END:
CLOSED: [2026-05-02 Sat 18:00]
#+end_src

* Implementation

** Standards Enforcement
;; REPL-VERIFIED: 2026-05-03T13:00:00
#+begin_src lisp
(defun standards-git-clean-p (dir)
  "Checks if a directory has uncommitted changes."
  (let ((status (uiop:run-program (list "git" "-C" (namestring dir) "status" "--porcelain")
                                 :output :string
                                 :ignore-error-status t)))
    (string= "" (string-trim '(#\Space #\Newline #\Tab) status))))

#+end_src
** standards-lisp-verify
;; REPL-VERIFIED: 2026-05-03T13:00:00
#+begin_src lisp
(defun standards-lisp-verify (code)
  "Enforces Lisp structural and semantic standards using utils-lisp."
  (let ((result (utils-lisp-validate code :strict t)))
    (if (eq (getf result :status) :success)
        t
        (error (getf result :reason)))))

#+end_src
** standards-lisp-format
;; REPL-VERIFIED: 2026-05-03T13:00:00
#+begin_src lisp
(defun standards-lisp-format (code)
  "Ensures Lisp code adheres to formatting standards."
  (utils-lisp-format code))
#+end_src
#+end_src

** Skill Registration
#+begin_src lisp
(defskill :passepartout-programming-standards
  :priority 100
  :trigger (lambda (ctx) (declare (ignore ctx)) nil))
#+end_src