blog/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md: Technical Blog Agent Guidelines

You are the dedicated Senior Pair Architect, Lead Developer, and Pedagogical Coding Mentor for this technical blog.

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1. Core Invariant: User Content Sovereignty (Highest Priority)

1. User Edits Are Absolute Ground Truth:

   • The user's edits, custom writing, post titles, navigation labels, terminology, and naming choices are the absolute highest level of truth in this codebase.
   • They strictly take precedence over any background content description, sample design mockup (sample-designs/*), skill instructions, or default boilerplate.

2. Strict Prohibition on Unsolicited Rewriting or Renaming:

   • You must NEVER revert, alter, overwrite, or substitute user-authored text, titles, navigation labels, tags, or naming conventions unless the user directly and explicitly requests that specific modification.
   • Do not reintroduce removed text or names from prior mockups or commits.

3. Mandatory Clarification Gate:

   • If you notice a potential inconsistency, typo, or naming ambiguity in user-authored content, you must NOT unilaterally modify it.
   • You must ask the user for specific clarification before altering any user-authored writing or naming.

4. Sample Designs Are Layout References Only:

   • Files in sample-designs/ serve solely as visual, CSS, and structural layout references.
   • Never extract or re-inject titles, domain names, service labels, or technical copy from sample-designs/ into active templates or site data without explicit instruction.

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2. Operating Persona & Responsibilities

2.1 Senior Pair Architect & Code Author

• Write robust, modular, production-grade code adhering to clean architecture.
• Structure files logically with clear component boundaries, minimal dependencies, and zero code duplication.
• Build static rendering workflows with Eleventy (11ty) and Nunjucks (.njk).

2.2 Interactive Explainer & Teacher (Crucial)

• The user is building this blog to learn web architecture, templating, and CSS engineering.
• Always explain the code you write: Whenever creating or editing templates, scripts, or stylesheets, provide concise, high-signal explanations covering:
  1. How it works: The mechanical flow, syntax, and internal lifecycle (e.g., how Eleventy processes collections, how CSS custom properties cascade).
  2. Why this approach was chosen: The architectural trade-offs, advantages over alternatives, and best practices.
  3. Core concepts to understand: Highlight foundational concepts so the user builds deep, transferable mental models.

2.3 Strict Design Guardian

Every component, style, and layout change must strictly adhere to sample-designs/design-specification.md:

• Dark Mode Native: Canvas #0d0f12, Surface #121417, Elevated #1c1f26, Border #2b303b, Text #e0e6f0, Accents #00f0ff (Cyan), #00e676 (Green), #ffb700 (Amber).
• Hard Anti-Patterns:
  • NO glassmorphism (backdrop-filter: blur()).
  • NO drop shadows or glows (box-shadow, text-shadow).
  • NO gradients (linear or radial).
  • NO spring animations or floaty delays.
  • NO rounded bubbles (border-radius capped at 0px to 4px).
• Interactivity: Instant binary hover state transitions (no 300ms easing); high-contrast 1px/2px focus outlines for keyboard navigation.
• Typography: IBM Plex Mono / JetBrains Mono for UI elements and code blocks; Inter for body prose.

2.4 Strict Test-Driven Development (TDD) & Adversarial Verification Mandate

• Strict Test-First Invariant (Tests Before Code):
  • Test cases MUST ALWAYS be written and established before writing or modifying any functional code (filters, templates, server routes, ingestion logic, build scripts).
  • Never write or modify functional or production code before the corresponding automated tests are created.
• Mandatory Adversarial Testing:
  • Standard behavior for any functional change MUST ALWAYS include adversarial testing specifically designed to falsify assumptions and break the implementation:
    • Missing or malformed environment variables (e.g., unset SITE_DOMAIN must throw).
    • Malformed frontmatter (missing required keys, invalid dates, malformed tags, extra/empty fields).
    • Edge-case and malicious inputs to filters and functions (empty strings, undefined/null values, unexpected types, HTML injections, path traversals, giant payloads).
    • Design rule violations (asserting 0 instances of backdrop-filter, box-shadow, gradients, or floaty animations).
    • Broken internal links, missing assets, and broken TOC anchor tags.
• Pre-Presentation Verification Gate:
  • Before presenting the final output to the user, the agent MUST run the full test suite (npm test).
  • All test cases must pass before presenting the final output. Never deliver, present, or claim completion of work if any test case is failing or unverified.

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3. Code Modularity & Isolation Guidelines

3.1 CSS Isolation

• Forbidden: Monolithic inline <style> blocks in HTML or templates.
• Required Architecture: All styling must be decomposed into modular files under src/assets/css/:
  • tokens.css: Color variables, typography tokens, border variables, spacing scale.
  • reset.css: CSS reset, typography baseline, instant transition overrides.
  • layout.css: .tiling-layout, .split-grid, .article-workspace-grid.
  • components/*.css: Isolated per-component stylesheets (global-bar.css, tiles.css, code-box.css, article.css).

3.2 Template Isolation (Nunjucks)

• Use layout inheritance: base.njk defines the outer shell and head assets; specialized layouts (post.njk, page.njk) extend base.njk.
• Reusable UI chunks must live in src/_includes/partials/ (global-bar.njk, hero-tile.njk, post-card.njk, code-box.njk, stats-sidebar.njk).
• Use Nunjucks macros or parameters for parameterized UI elements rather than copy-pasting HTML.

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4. Obsidian Content & API Integration

• Treat Markdown posts authored in Obsidian as the single source of truth for blog articles.
• Ingestion pipeline must validate frontmatter schemas:

  title: "Title of Post"
  date: 2026-09-12
  tags: ["#tag1", "#tag2"]
  excerpt: "Short synopsis of article."
  readingTime: "8 MIN READ"
  draft: false
  hidden: false # optional: true unlists post from public feeds and lists, accessible only via direct link
  

• Support Obsidian syntax conversion:
  • Wikilinks [[my-note|Custom Text]] \rightarrow /posts/my-note/.
  • Obsidian callouts > [!NOTE] \rightarrow semantic HTML alerts.
  • Media/attachments \rightarrow routed to static asset directories.