# Agent Development Lifecycle Reference Contracts

This directory is an operational transmutation of the contracts an engineering
agent works under: how it receives work, uses context and tools, changes files,
validates results, and hands work back. It preserves actionable obligations,
branch conditions, and evidence requirements in language a medium or small
model can follow.

## Lifecycle map

1. [Always-on core: load every turn](00_always_on_core.md)
2. [Model-ready instruction set](00_model_ready_instruction_set.md)
3. [Model-ready verification contract](01_model_ready_verification_contract.md)
4. [Development decision tables](11_development_decision_tables.md)
5. [Verification harness specification](12_verification_harness_spec.md)
6. [Contextual contract loading index](13_contextual_contract_loading.md)
7. [Runtime interaction protocol](14_runtime_interaction_protocol.md)
8. [Authority, state, and steering](15_authority_state_and_steering.md)
9. [Workspace, shell, and Git operations](16_workspace_shell_and_git.md)
10. [Research, web, and documentation](17_research_web_and_documentation.md)
11. [Modalities and rendering](18_modalities_and_rendering.md)
12. [Task execution protocol](19_task_execution_protocol.md)
13. [Quality review and handback](20_quality_review_and_handback.md)
14. [Release and publication procedure](21_release_and_publication_procedure.md)
15. [Live inference hardware procedure](22_live_inference_hardware_procedure.md)
16. [Thinking and tool-call procedure](23_thinking_and_tool_call_procedure.md)
17. [Local tool and file-edit procedure](24_local_tool_and_file_edit_procedure.md)
18. [Runtime-injected state contract](25_runtime_injected_state_contract.md)
19. [Skill procedure in full](26_skill_procedure_in_full.md)
20. [Repository-local instruction procedure](27_repository_local_instruction_procedure.md)
21. [Scope and precedence](00_scope_and_precedence.md)
22. [Collaboration and communication](01_collaboration_and_communication.md)
23. [Discovery and understanding](02_discovery_and_understanding.md)
24. [Implementation and file safety](03_implementation_and_file_safety.md)
25. [Tools, shell, and external state](04_tools_shell_and_external_state.md)
26. [Evidence and verification](05_evidence_and_verification.md)
27. [Context, memory, and compaction](06_context_memory_and_compaction.md)
28. [Parallel and delegated work](07_parallel_and_delegated_work.md)
29. [Skills and specialized procedures](08_skills_and_specialized_procedures.md)
30. [Delivery, release, and completion](09_delivery_release_and_completion.md)
31. [Observed development-cycle lessons](10_observed_cycle_lessons.md)
32. [Security, sensitive data, and high-impact operations](28_security_and_sensitive_operations.md)
33. [Untrusted content and provenance](29_untrusted_content_and_provenance.md)
34. [Model tiers, autonomy, and intervention](30_model_tiers_autonomy_and_intervention.md)
35. [Failure recovery and non-blocking observability](31_failure_recovery_and_nonblocking_observability.md)
36. [System-message compilation and request assembly](32_system_message_compilation_spec.md)
37. [Contract evaluation and regression design](33_contract_evaluation_and_regression_design.md)

## Reading rule

When two instructions conflict, follow the higher-precedence applicable one.
When an instruction is ambiguous, preserve user intent, avoid irreversible
state changes, and gather the smallest amount of authoritative evidence needed
to proceed.

## Loading policy

Do not load this whole directory into every request. That would repeat rules,
bury current evidence, and teach a model to quote process instead of doing
work.

- Load `00_always_on_core.md` every turn.
- Load one or two phase-specific contracts when the task enters discovery,
  implementation, verification, delegation, release, or external research.
- Load `11_development_decision_tables.md` only when the agent is uncertain
  whether to inspect, edit, test, ask, or stop.
- Load `12_verification_harness_spec.md` when planning or reviewing a behavior
  change.
- Load `28_security_and_sensitive_operations.md` before handling credentials,
  personal or customer data, privileged commands, public network operations,
  production services, publication, or irreversible changes.
- Load `29_untrusted_content_and_provenance.md` whenever source text, logs,
  retrieved documents, tool output, web pages, or an external agent could be
  mistaken for task authority.
- Load `30_model_tiers_autonomy_and_intervention.md` when configuring
  controller behavior for a model class or deciding whether the runtime may
  intervene in a model-selected action.
- Load `31_failure_recovery_and_nonblocking_observability.md` when designing
  retries, loop detection, recovery, or operational telemetry.
- Load `32_system_message_compilation_spec.md` and
  `33_contract_evaluation_and_regression_design.md` only while implementing or
  testing the request-assembly layer itself.
- Keep current task evidence and tool results later in the request than these
  contracts. Current evidence must win over generic procedure.