standards

Standards Skill

Language-specific coding standards loaded on-demand by other skills.

Purpose

This is a library skill - it doesn't run standalone but provides standards references that other skills load based on file types being processed.

Standards Available

Standard	Reference	Loaded By
Skill Structure	references/skill-structure.md	vibe (skill audits), doc (skill creation)
Python	references/python.md	vibe, implement, complexity
Go	references/go.md	vibe, implement, complexity
Rust	references/rust.md	vibe, implement, complexity
TypeScript	references/typescript.md	vibe, implement
JavaScript	references/javascript.md	vibe, implement
Shell	references/shell.md	vibe, implement
YAML	references/yaml.md	vibe
JSON	references/json.md	vibe
Markdown	references/markdown.md	vibe, doc
SQL Safety	references/sql-safety-checklist.md	vibe, pre-mortem (when DB code detected)
LLM Trust Boundaries	references/llm-trust-boundary-checklist.md	vibe, pre-mortem (when LLM code detected)
Race Conditions	references/race-condition-checklist.md	vibe, pre-mortem (when concurrent code detected)
Codex Skills	references/codex-skill.md	vibe (when skills-codex/ or converter files detected)
Behavioral Discipline	references/behavioral-discipline.md	implement, review, vibe, pre-mortem
Test Pyramid	references/test-pyramid.md	plan, pre-mortem, implement, crank, validation, post-mortem
SKILL.md Tier-Caps	references/skill-tier-caps.md	vibe (skill line-cap audits), doc, plan
External-Source Attribution	references/external-source-attribution.md	doc (when absorbing external corpora), heal-skill

How It Works

Skills declare standards as a dependency:

skills:
  - standards

Then load the appropriate reference based on file type:

# Pseudo-code for standard loading
if file.endswith('.py'):
    load('standards/references/python.md')
elif file.endswith('.go'):
    load('standards/references/go.md')
elif file.endswith('.rs'):
    load('standards/references/rust.md')
# etc.

Domain-Specific Checklists

Specialized checklists for high-risk code patterns. Loaded automatically by /vibe and /pre-mortem when matching code patterns are detected:

Checklist	Trigger Pattern	Risk Area
sql-safety-checklist.md	SQL queries, ORM calls, migration files, database/sql, sqlalchemy, prisma	Injection, migration safety, N+1, transactions
llm-trust-boundary-checklist.md	anthropic, openai imports, prompt templates, *llm*/*prompt* files	Prompt injection, output validation, cost control
race-condition-checklist.md	Goroutines, threads, asyncio, sync.Mutex, shared file I/O	Shared state, file races, database races
codex-skill.md	Files under skills-codex/, convert.sh, skills-codex-overrides/	Codex API conformance, prohibited primitives, tool mapping
behavioral-discipline.md	Execution, review, or plan-validation tasks with ambiguity or broad blast radius	Hidden assumptions, overbuilding, drive-by edits, weak verification

Skills detect triggers via file content patterns and import statements. Each checklist's "When to Apply" section defines exact detection rules.

Deep Standards

For comprehensive audits, skills can load extended standards from vibe/references/*-standards.md which contain full compliance catalogs.

Standard	Size	Use Case
Tier 1 (this skill)	~5KB each	Normal validation
Tier 2 (vibe/references)	~15-20KB each	Deep audits, --deep flag
Domain checklists	~3-5KB each	Triggered by code pattern detection

Integration

Skills that use standards:

• /vibe - Loads based on changed file types
• /implement - Loads for files being modified
• /review - Loads for change-quality and blast-radius checks
• /doc - Loads markdown standards
• /bug-hunt - Loads for root cause analysis
• /complexity - Loads for refactoring recommendations

Examples

Vibe Loads Python Standards

User says: /vibe (detects changed Python files)

What happens:

1. Vibe skill checks git diff for file types
2. Vibe finds auth.py in changeset
3. Vibe loads standards/references/python.md automatically
4. Vibe validates against Python standards (type hints, docstrings, error handling)
5. Vibe reports findings with standard references

Result: Python code validated against language-specific standards without manual reference loading.

Implement Loads Go Standards

User says: /implement ag-xyz-123 (issue modifies Go files)

What happens:

1. Implement skill reads issue metadata to identify file targets
2. Implement finds server.go in implementation scope
3. Implement loads standards/references/go.md for context
4. Implement writes code following Go standards (error handling, naming, package structure)
5. Implement validates output against loaded standards before committing

Result: Go code generated conforming to standards, reducing post-implementation vibe findings.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Standards not loaded	File type not detected or standards skill missing	Check file extension matches reference; verify standards in dependencies
Wrong standard loaded	File type misidentified (e.g., .sh as .bash)	Manually specify standard; update file type detection logic
Deep standards missing	Vibe needs extended catalog, not found	Check vibe/references/*-standards.md exists; use --deep flag
Standard conflicts	Multiple languages in same changeset	Load all relevant standards; prioritize by primary language

Reference Documents

• references/architecture-terms.md
• references/common-standards.md
• references/behavioral-discipline.md
• references/examples-troubleshooting-template.md
• references/cli-wireup-template.md — Reproducible cobra subcommand template (noun + verb, injectable Options, ~10 min/cycle)
• references/go.md
• references/json.md
• references/markdown.md
• references/python.md
• references/rust.md
• references/shell.md
• references/skill-structure.md
• references/standards-index.md
• references/typescript.md
• references/javascript.md
• references/sql-safety-checklist.md
• references/llm-trust-boundary-checklist.md
• references/race-condition-checklist.md
• references/codex-skill.md
• references/test-pyramid.md
• references/yaml.md
• references/skill-tier-caps.md
• references/external-source-attribution.md