squad-conventions

All user-facing errors go through the fatal(msg) function, which prints a red ✗ prefix and exits with code 1. Never throw unhandled exceptions or print raw stack traces; a global uncaughtException handler calls fatal() as a safety net.

No. Squad is a zero-dependency package and this is a hard constraint, not a preference. Everything must use Node.js built-ins such as fs, path, os, and child_process, and nothing may be added to dependencies in package.json.

Squad uses the Node.js built-in test runner with node:test and node:assert/strict, with no external test frameworks. Tests live in the test/ directory and run via npm test, which executes node --test test/.

Yes, Squad must work on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Always use path.join() for file paths and never hardcode forward or backward slash separators, and all tests must pass on every platform.

The init flow uses a skip-if-exists pattern to guarantee idempotency and protect user-owned state in .squad/ from being overwritten. Only the upgrade flow overwrites files, and only Squad-owned ones like templates and the coordinator prompt.