---
license: cc-by-4.0
language:
  - en
tags:
  - code
  - code-conventions
  - coding-agents
  - agent-enhanced-development
  - style-guide
  - crystal
pretty_name: "AED Conventions — Agent-Enhanced Development"
size_categories:
  - n<1K
---

# AED Conventions — Agent-Enhanced Development

**Version `v1.1.0-rc.1` — release candidate.**

Code conventions for codebases written, reviewed, and maintained by humans
*and* coding agents together. The guiding rule:

> **Prefer the form that reads like a plain statement of intent. Reach for
> shorthand only when it makes the intent _clearer_, never just shorter.**

This dataset is a mirror. The **canonical source** is
<https://github.com/AgentC-Consulting/aed-conventions>, and if the two ever
disagree, the repository wins. Maintained by
[AgentC Consulting](https://agentc.consulting).

## What's here

Chapters 01–04, 07 and `quick_reference.md` are the author's original notes
(written 2024-06-03; `03_process_managers.md` revised 2025-11-24), published
**verbatim** — including his own work-in-progress markers and one section still
marked `TBD`. Chapters 05–06 and the evidence are later work.

| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| `dist/aed-v1.1.0-rc.1.md` | **Everything, in one file, in reading order** — start here |
| `01_why_models_need_this.md` | Token windows: why naming carries so much weight for a model |
| `02_naming_conventions.md` | `list_of_` naming, boolean-as-question naming, attributes as short statements |
| `03_process_managers.md` | The "when" grammar for business processes |
| `04_feature_stories.md` | Personas, operations, authorization levels |
| `CONVENTIONS.md` | Chapter 05 — six edit-level style rules with before/after Crystal |
| `06_control_flow.md` | CF-1…CF-11 — `case`, loops, guards, rescues, fibers, macros |
| `07_how_the_workflow_runs.md` | Plan in batches, let the agent run, walk away |
| `quick_reference.md` | The cheat sheet |
| `examples/` | Runnable before/after Crystal files |
| `evidence/` | Small-model comprehension benchmark + raw per-probe data |
| `llms.txt` | Machine-readable map, ordered to match the reading order |

## Evidence, with its limits

`evidence/haiku_comprehension_report.md` reports AED-style Crystal scoring
**60/60** against **54/60** for conventional compressed style, on 10 snippet
pairs blind-answered by Claude Haiku and blind-graded.

Read the stated limits before citing it: n=10 pairs, one small model, a single
run with no variance estimate, a model grader rather than a human one, and the
snippet pairs were authored by the same party that authored the conventions.
It is a **directional signal consistent with the hypothesis, not proof of it**.

## Status

This is a **release candidate**. Two things are unsettled: the CF-1…CF-11
thresholds (open questions are listed at the end of that chapter), and one
naming example in `CONVENTIONS.md` that conflicts with `02_naming_conventions.md`
— chapter 02 is the authority where they disagree.

## Versioning

**`v1.x` is this foundation being established.** The v1.1.0 expansion is large,
but size is not what moves the major number: everything in it belongs to the
same frontier foundation `v1.0.0` started — filled in, not replaced. The final
tag on this work will be `v1.1.0`.

**`v2.0.0` is reserved for the next generation of improvements** — thinking that
supersedes this foundation rather than completing it. Read a major bump here as
a genuine change of generation, not merely a big release.

## Citation

See `CITATION.cff`. In short:

> Tucker, Seth, and AgentC Consulting. *AED Conventions — Agent-Enhanced
> Development: Code That Reads Like Statements*, v1.1.0-rc.1, 2026.
> https://github.com/AgentC-Consulting/aed-conventions

## License

Dual-licensed, matching the canonical repository:

- **Prose and documentation** — [CC BY 4.0](LICENSE). Reuse and adapt freely,
  with credit to [AgentC Consulting](https://agentc.consulting).
- **Code under `examples/`** — [MIT](LICENSE-EXAMPLES). Take it freely, with or
  without credit.