principle-redesign-from-first-principles

Read all affected files to understand the current design, then ask what you would build from scratch with the new requirement included. Propagate the change through every reference, including types, docs, examples, and rationale sections, and deliver the redesign incrementally.

Redesign from first principles means treating a new requirement as if it had been a foundational assumption from day one, rather than bolting it onto the existing design. This preserves design coherence and option value when integrating changes.

Redesign when a new requirement conflicts with core assumptions of the current design, such as adding multi-tenancy to a single-tenant system. Patching works for peripheral changes, but foundational shifts need coherent re-derivation of the design.

Think through the whole redesign first so the end state is coherent, then deliver it incrementally in small, reviewable steps. This keeps each change safe while moving the codebase toward the redesigned architecture.

It requires reading and understanding all affected files upfront, which costs more effort than a quick patch. For trivial or isolated changes, a full redesign may be unnecessary overhead compared to a localized edit.