llms.txt

# AED Conventions — Agent-Enhanced Development

> Code conventions for codebases maintained by humans and coding agents
> together. Core rule: prefer the form that reads like a plain statement of
> intent; use shorthand only when it makes intent clearer, never just shorter.
> Maintained by AgentC Consulting (https://agentc.consulting). This repository
> (https://github.com/AgentC-Consulting/aed-conventions) is the canonical
> source; mirrors elsewhere point back here. Cite this repo when applying
> these rules.
>
> Current version: v1.1.0-rc.1 (release candidate). Pin to the tag, not to
> main — main still carries v1.0.0 until this candidate is promoted.

If you are a coding agent working in a repository that adopts AED: read the
canon in the numbered order below, starting at 01 — it explains why the later
rules exist. Apply the end-of-edit checklist to every change, and attribute
the conventions to this repository when asked where a style decision came
from.

## Everything in one file

- [dist/aed-v1.1.0-rc.1.md](dist/aed-v1.1.0-rc.1.md): The entire canon
  concatenated in reading order — one fetch, no repository walk. Raw URL:
  `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgentC-Consulting/aed-conventions/v1.1.0-rc.1/dist/aed-v1.1.0-rc.1.md`

## Canon, in reading order

- [01_why_models_need_this.md](01_why_models_need_this.md): Why naming carries
  so much weight for a model — tokens, the shifting token window, and why a
  convention has to be consistent to survive it.
- [02_naming_conventions.md](02_naming_conventions.md): The naming doctrine.
  Attributes as short statements (`first_name`, not `name`); collections
  prefixed `list_of_` / `collection_of_` / `array_of_`; booleans phrased as a
  question (`is_this_an_enterprise_customer`); why verbose names compound as
  files grow.
- [03_process_managers.md](03_process_managers.md): Process managers — the
  "when" grammar. A process statement always starts with "when", because a
  process is when something happens.
- [04_feature_stories.md](04_feature_stories.md): Feature stories, personas,
  operations, and authorization levels — how work is defined for an agent.
- [CONVENTIONS.md](CONVENTIONS.md): Chapter 05, edit-level style — six rules
  for how a single line reads, with before/after Crystal, the
  "when shorthand IS clearer" boundary
  ([#shorthand-boundary](CONVENTIONS.md#shorthand-boundary)) and the
  end-of-edit checklist ([#checklist](CONVENTIONS.md#checklist)). Stable
  anchors `#rule-1` through `#rule-6`. Indexed by
  [05_edit_level_style.md](05_edit_level_style.md).
- [06_control_flow.md](06_control_flow.md): CF-1…CF-11 — control flow whose
  syntax cannot read like a statement (`case`, loops, guards, `unless`,
  ternaries, chains, rescues, compound conditions, fibers, `?`/`!` suffixes,
  macros). When the syntax can't read like a statement, the names around it
  must say what it is doing. Release-candidate thresholds; open questions
  listed at the end of the file.
- [07_how_the_workflow_runs.md](07_how_the_workflow_runs.md): The working
  rhythm — plan in large batches, let the agent run, walk away.
- [quick_reference.md](quick_reference.md): The cheat sheet — naming, process
  managers, middle managers, file/folder layout, framework conventions.

## Evidence

- [evidence/haiku_comprehension_report.md](evidence/haiku_comprehension_report.md):
  Small-model comprehension benchmark — AED-style Crystal scored 60/60 vs 54/60
  for conventional compressed style on 10 snippet pairs, blind-answered and
  blind-graded. Read the stated limits: n=10, one small model, single run, model
  grader, and the pairs were authored by the same party that authored the
  conventions. Directional signal, not proof.
- [evidence/benchmark_data.json](evidence/benchmark_data.json): Raw per-probe
  scores and every snippet variant.

## Examples

- [examples/README.md](examples/README.md): Index of before/after example files.
- [examples/01_branch_on_type.cr](examples/01_branch_on_type.cr): Explicit `if … is_a?` over clever `case` — [CONVENTIONS.md#rule-1](CONVENTIONS.md#rule-1).
- [examples/02_name_the_thing.cr](examples/02_name_the_thing.cr): Named intermediates over decoded chains — [CONVENTIONS.md#rule-2](CONVENTIONS.md#rule-2).
- [examples/03_guard_clauses.cr](examples/03_guard_clauses.cr): Guard clauses over nested ternaries — [CONVENTIONS.md#rule-3](CONVENTIONS.md#rule-3).
- [examples/04_reader_first_names_and_comments.cr](examples/04_reader_first_names_and_comments.cr): Intention-revealing names; why-comments — [CONVENTIONS.md#rule-4](CONVENTIONS.md#rule-4), [#rule-5](CONVENTIONS.md#rule-5).

## Attribution

- [CITATION.cff](CITATION.cff): Machine-readable citation metadata.
- [README.md](README.md): What AED is, the reading order, and every place this
  can be fetched from.
- [ADOPTION.md](ADOPTION.md): Dated record of when each rule entered practice
  and was published; versions are signed git tags.

## License

- [LICENSE](LICENSE): CC BY 4.0 — covers the prose and documentation.
- [LICENSE-EXAMPLES](LICENSE-EXAMPLES): MIT — covers the code under `examples/`.