coding-guidelines

Apply formal coding guidelines to reduce framing errors during development tasks.

Updated Mar 12, 2026

Search Tags:#refactoring #safety #coding #guidelines #best-practices #code-review

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npx skills add https://github.com/alexjcm/agent-skillset --skill coding-guidelines-alexjcm

💬 Prompt for ChatGPT / Claude Chat▼

Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: coding-guidelines
Source: https://github.com/alexjcm/agent-skillset/tree/main/skills/development/coding-guidelines
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/alexjcm/agent-skillset --skill coding-guidelines-alexjcm

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve?

Coding teams often encounter subtle errors and inconsistent coding practices that degrade quality. This guide provides behavioral guidelines to reduce common LLM coding mistakes and promote safer, clearer development.

Core Features & Use Cases

Think before coding: surface assumptions, questions, and tradeoffs before making changes.
Surgical changes: touch only what you must, avoid unnecessary edits to surrounding code.
Goal-driven execution: define verifiable success criteria and iterate until confirmed. This guidance is ideal for code reviews, implementation tasks, refactoring, bug fixes, and feature development across software projects.

Quick Start

Apply the guidelines to the requested coding task to ensure minimal, justified edits.

Frequently Asked Questions about coding-guidelines

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema

How do I reduce coding mistakes and framing errors during software development?▼

To reduce coding mistakes, apply formal coding guidelines that enforce thinking before coding, making surgical changes, and defining verifiable success criteria. This approach surfaces assumptions and tradeoffs before making any code modifications.

What are the best practices for applying coding guidelines during code reviews and refactoring?▼

Best practices for code reviews and refactoring involve applying a conservative change strategy that touches only necessary code. This surgical approach ensures minimal, justified edits while maintaining verifiable success criteria throughout the implementation process.

Can I use these coding guidelines for bug fixes and feature development across different software projects?▼

Yes, these coding guidelines are applicable to bug fixes and feature development across software projects. They provide behavioral rules to reduce common LLM coding mistakes by enforcing goal-driven execution and conservative change strategies.

How do I define verifiable success criteria for implementation tasks?▼

Defining verifiable success criteria requires establishing clear goals before execution and iterating until confirmed. This goal-driven approach ensures implementation tasks meet defined quality standards while reducing framing errors and careless mistakes.

Why should I surface assumptions and tradeoffs before making code changes?▼

Surfacing assumptions and tradeoffs before coding prevents subtle errors and inconsistent practices that degrade software quality. This guideline ensures developers think before coding, leading to safer, clearer development with minimal unnecessary edits.

Does applying conservative change strategies work for debugging and implementation tasks?▼

Conservative change strategies work effectively for debugging and implementation tasks by ensuring surgical changes that touch only necessary code. This approach minimizes unnecessary edits to surrounding code while maintaining focus on verifiable success criteria.