ultralytics/actions
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

Consolidate AGENTS.md Core Principles from eight to five (#841)

Browse Source
This commit is contained in:
Glenn Jocher
2026-07-25 01:30:17 +02:00
committed by GitHub
parent 1304ff0025
commit c11c71a91c
1 changed files with 9 additions and 14 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files
AGENTS.md
+9 -14
View File
@@ -4,22 +4,17 @@ This file provides guidance to AI coding agents (Claude Code, etc.) when working
## Core Principles (CRITICAL)
Respecting these principles is critical for every PR.
**Less is more. The simplest solution is the best solution.** The action hierarchy for every change: **Delete > Replace > Add**.
**Less is more. The simplest solution is the best solution.**
1. **Solve at the owner**: Put behavior in the code path that owns or observes it. For fixes, never guard a symptom with a staleness check, initialization flag, skip-first-call branch, or `try/except` around broken logic; relocate the trigger and delete the wrong path. For features, extend the existing owner rather than creating a parallel abstraction.
2. **Search and reuse first**: Search the whole repository before creating anything new — a module, helper, utility, composite action, or workflow. Reuse or adapt what exists, consolidate in-scope duplication in the shared owner, and delete duplicate paths. Three similar lines beat a helper nobody else calls.
3. **Delete and modify existing code before creating new code**: Bugfixes are net-negative by default unless deletion and relocation are demonstrably impossible. A new file must first prove it cannot fit cleanly in an existing owner.
4. **Keep scope minimal**: Implement only the simplest complete solution. Avoid impossible-state handling, speculative flags, compatibility shims, policy scaffolding, and unrelated cleanup. Tests are out of scope by default — rely on existing coverage and focused validation; only an uncovered, high-risk regression path justifies minimal new test code.
5. **Ship zero-regression, production-ready changes**: Understand what you remove instead of retaining broken code as insurance. Remove unused imports, functions, types, files, and commented-out code; run relevant cleanup checks; and thoroughly debug and validate the changed owner. Do not break existing features or workflows unless the PR intentionally removes them with evidence.
The action hierarchy for every change: **Delete > Replace > Add**. The best code change is a deletion. The second best is modifying what exists. Adding new code is the last resort.
**Review gate:** for every addition, the reviewer decides whether deleting or changing existing code would have fixed the problem instead — if it would, that is a blocking finding. A missing or thin PR description is never itself a finding.
1. **Minimal**: The simplest solution that works. Do not over-engineer, over-abstract, or add code just in case. Three similar lines beat a premature abstraction. Avoid error handling for impossible states, feature flags, compatibility shims, or policy scaffolding unless they are truly required.
2. **Solve at the source**: Do not hack fixes. Solve problems at their root. If something is broken, fix or remove the broken thing. Never patch over a broken abstraction, add workarounds, or add synchronization code for state that should not be duplicated.
3. **Delete ruthlessly**: When replacing code, delete what it replaced. Remove unused imports, functions, types, files, and commented-out code. Git preserves history. Run the repo's relevant dead-code or cleanup check when available.
4. **Replace > Add**: Modify existing code over adding new code. Edit existing files, extend existing components or functions with minimal parameters, and reuse existing utilities. If creating a new file, first prove it cannot fit cleanly in an existing file.
5. **Check existing**: Search the entire repo before creating anything new. If a feature, component, helper, responder, workflow, or utility already solves a similar problem, reuse or adapt it and delete the duplicate path.
6. **Deduplicate**: Do not duplicate existing code when updating the repo. Consolidate or refactor duplicates you find when it is in scope and low risk.
7. **Zero Regression**: Do not break existing features or workflows unless the PR intentionally removes them with evidence.
8. **Production ready**: All changes must be thoroughly debugged, validated, and production ready.
**When fixing bugs, ask: "What can I delete?" before "What can I replace?" before "What should I add?"**
NEVER push to `main`. NEVER force push. Always start work in a new git worktree (`git worktree add`) on a feature branch and open a PR — never edit the primary checkout directly, it may hold in-flight work.
## PR Workflow
@@ -27,7 +22,7 @@ After opening a PR:
1. Wait for the automated PR review and auto-format commit from Ultralytics Actions (`format.yml`), then pull and address every finding.
2. Launch an independent adversarial review agent with cold context (just the PR diff and this file) to hunt for bugs, regressions, and Core Principles violations. Fix, push, and repeat with a fresh agent until one reports LGTM.
3. Never fight other commits: Ultralytics Actions pushes auto-format and header commits, and multiple users may work on the same PR. `git pull --rebase` before pushing; never force-push, reset, or revert commits you did not author.
3. Never fight other commits: Ultralytics Actions pushes auto-format and header commits, and multiple users may work on the same PR. `git pull --rebase` before pushing; never reset or revert commits you did not author.
4. After the PR merges, clean up: remove local worktrees and branches for it, then `git checkout main && git pull`.
## Commands