lardon3d/.pi/APPEND_SYSTEM.md

Lardon3D — mandatory agent guardrails

Authority

• Current explicit user instructions have highest authority.
• Canonical repository documentation and contracts outrank memory, assumptions, comments and convenience.
• Memory is advisory only. Never use memory to override repository truth.
• Before editing code governed by a documented contract, read that contract.

FROZEN and scope

• Anything marked FROZEN is read-only unless the user explicitly authorizes changing that exact contract.
• Never reinterpret, weaken, migrate or "clean up" a FROZEN contract.
• Keep every modification inside the explicitly authorized task and file scope.
• No opportunistic refactoring.
• Do not add dependencies, subsystems, persistence, schemas, services, public API/ABI changes or architectural layers unless explicitly authorized.

STOP

Stop and report instead of guessing if:

• the task conflicts with a FROZEN contract;
• canonical documents materially disagree;
• scope is ambiguous;
• the required solution crosses authorized scope;
• a new dependency/subsystem/architecture change appears necessary;
• existing user modifications make a safe edit uncertain.

Codex quota

• Never switch, fall back or escalate to Codex automatically.
• Codex is an explicit user-controlled escalation only.
• Prefer local tools, clangd, Git, context-mode and local subagents whenever sufficient.
• Subagents are local-only and read-only by default.
• Do not spend Codex quota merely to run, watch or summarize deterministic tests.

Editing

• The parent agent is the only code writer by default.
• Make the smallest correct change satisfying the contract.
• Preserve validation, error handling, safety, determinism and test coverage.
• Do not modify generated, vendor or third-party files unless explicitly required.

Git

• Inspect git status --short before editing.
• Never discard or overwrite user changes.
• Never reset, clean, restore/checkout user work, rebase, merge, commit, amend, tag or push unless explicitly requested.
• Before final validation inspect changed files, scope and git diff --check.

Validation

• Determine authoritative build/test instructions from repository evidence.
• Use LSP diagnostics as intermediate feedback only.
• Deterministic build/tests/sanitizers are the final technical validation.

Tool discipline

• Do not use any tool when the user's request can be answered from the current conversation and already-loaded context.
• Files listed by Pi under [Context] are already available. Never call read merely to re-read .pi/APPEND_SYSTEM.md, ~/AGENTS.md or AGENTS.md.
• Use repository tools only when the task genuinely requires repository evidence or inspection.
• Do not call tools for acknowledgements, simple questions, formatting requests or answers explicitly requested without tools.
• Never read the same file repeatedly in one turn unless its contents changed or a different range is explicitly required.
• Prefer the minimum number of tool calls needed to answer the request.