Code Discipline

Use this skill whenever a task involves adding or modifying logic and there is risk of helper sprawl, unnecessary wrappers, duplicate utilities, duplicate constants, or abstraction bloat.

This is an anti-laziness skill. It prevents agents from "solving" tasks by inventing new files, helpers, and indirection when existing primitives already solve the problem.

Default assumption:

• The user wants maintainable code with minimal abstraction surface area.
• The user does not want renamed duplicates of existing behavior.
• New helpers, wrappers, constants modules, and style-only indirection are disallowed unless justified by clear architectural value.

When to Use

Invoke this skill for:

• feature implementation that introduces new logic
• refactors that add utility or service layers
• UI changes where component-local helpers may proliferate
• frontend work where constants, tokens, or styled files may be needlessly split apart
• bug fixes that tempt quick wrapper-based patches
• code review focused on maintainability and reuse discipline

Use together with agent-execution-mode and repo-standards-enforcement for production implementation work.

Core Enforcement Policy

Non-Negotiable

• Do not create a helper if the logic is trivial and used once.
• Do not create a wrapper that only forwards calls.
• Do not create renamed duplicates of existing utilities.
• Do not add service, hook, or adapter layers that add indirection without policy.
• Do not reimplement platform or standard library behavior.
• Do not duplicate utility logic across packages.
• Do not extract one-off constants into a module just to reduce line count.
• Do not create a constants, helpers, utils, or shared file unless ownership and reuse are real.
• Do not split styles into separate files when the styles are local and the split adds no ownership value.

Required Posture

• prefer platform primitives first
• prefer framework-native capabilities second
• prefer existing internal utilities third
• prefer existing repository dependencies fourth
• create new abstraction only as a last resort with explicit rationale

Mandatory Evaluation Order

Before adding any helper, hook, service, wrapper, adapter, formatter, parser, transformer, constant module, token, or utility, evaluate in this exact order:

1. language or runtime primitives
2. standard library APIs
3. framework-native features
4. existing repository utilities
5. existing installed dependencies
6. new abstraction with justification

Skipping this order is non-compliant behavior.

New Abstraction Admission Gate

A new abstraction, helper, constant module, or shared style boundary is allowed only if at least one is true:

• it enforces domain invariants or policy
• it encapsulates non-trivial repeated logic across multiple call sites
• it isolates an infrastructure boundary
• it provides correctness, validation, or security guarantees
• it improves testability of genuinely complex behavior
• it creates a shared source of truth for a value that must stay synchronized across multiple consumers

A new abstraction is rejected if it only:

• renames existing behavior
• forwards calls one-to-one
• wraps a single primitive or single library call
• exists for style preference only
• hides a one-off literal that is clearer inline

Smell Rules

Treat these as automatic scrutiny triggers:

• names starting with normalize, format, parse, transform, sanitize, safe, to
• names starting with build, make, create, get, set, use, or manage when they only wrap a single operation
• services that only proxy repository or SDK methods
• hooks that only call another hook and return the same shape
• helpers used once in a single file
• utility modules that only contain one-line wrappers
• constants modules with a single consumer
• style files that only move declarations without changing ownership or reuse

Smells are not always wrong, but they require explicit defense.

Component Logic Rules

• Keep simple display and one-off transformations inline.
• Extract only when complexity or reuse justifies extraction.
• Do not grow component files into local utility libraries.
• Move reusable logic to the correct shared layer, not the nearest file.
• Keep one-off constants inline unless they are part of a shared contract or repeated across files.
• Keep component-local styled declarations local unless repeated styling proves the need for a shared primitive.

Constant Placement Rules

• Keep one-off literals near their use when that improves readability.
• Promote a constant only when it carries shared meaning, is reused, or is part of a public or cross-file contract.
• Do not create a module just to host a single constant.
• Do not move a literal into const X = ... if the new name adds no meaning.
• Put shared design tokens in the theme or design-system layer, not in page-local files.
• Put shared UI constants in the owning domain or shared layer, not in a convenience bucket.

File and Style Organization Rules

• Keep helpers, constants, and styles in the narrowest correct owner.
• Prefer colocated component styles for component-local concerns.
• Prefer shared style primitives only when multiple components truly share them.
• Avoid generic catch-all folders that exist only to hide structure.
• Avoid re-export barrels that add no boundary or reuse value.
• Keep styled file names descriptive of ownership, not generic (Button.styles.ts is clearer than styles.ts).
• Split a styled file only when the split makes ownership, reuse, or maintenance clearer.
• Do not create a separate file for a tiny style fragment that is used once.

Monorepo and Workspace Rules

• do not duplicate helpers across packages
• promote shared logic to the correct shared package when reuse exists
• respect architecture boundaries when sharing utilities
• do not bypass boundaries through convenience imports

Review and Refactor Enforcement

When active in review/refactor mode, agents must:

• flag unnecessary helpers and wrappers
• remove trivial abstractions where safe
• consolidate duplicate utilities
• replace handwritten logic with platform/library primitives where appropriate
• explain each removal or consolidation with maintainability rationale

Definition of Done

This skill is satisfied only when all are true:

• no newly introduced trivial helper/wrapper layers remain
• no duplicate utility logic remains in changed scope
• no one-off constants were extracted without a shared-meaning reason
• new abstractions (if any) are justified by the admission gate
• platform/framework/internal utilities were preferred over reinvention
• changed scope is simpler or equal in surface area, not more bloated

Output Contract

When responding after this skill is used, report:

• what abstraction/helper candidates were considered
• what existing primitive/utility was reused
• what abstractions were rejected and why
• what consolidations/removals were performed
• any new abstraction added and which admission-gate condition allowed it
• where constants and styles were kept inline instead of being extracted

References

Use the reference guides for strict implementation details:

• references/helper-functions.md
• references/abstraction-patterns.md
• references/library-preference.md
• references/component-logic.md
• references/constants-and-organization.md