Implementation Standards

Apply these standards during implementation to ensure consistent, maintainable code.

When to Use This Skill

• During /itp:go Phase 1
• When writing new production code
• User mentions "error handling", "constants", "magic numbers", "progress logging"
• Before release to verify code quality

Quick Reference

Standard	Rule
Errors	Raise + propagate; no fallback/default/retry/silent
Constants	Abstract magic numbers into semantic, version-agnostic dynamic constants
Dependencies	Prefer OSS libs over custom code; no backward-compatibility needed
Progress	Operations >1min: log status every 15-60s
Logs	logs/{adr-id}-YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.log (nohup)
Metadata	Optional: catalog-info.yaml for service discovery

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Error Handling

Core Rule: Raise + propagate; no fallback/default/retry/silent

# ✅ Correct - raise with context
def fetch_data(url: str) -> dict:
    response = requests.get(url)
    if response.status_code != 200:
        raise APIError(f"Failed to fetch {url}: {response.status_code}")
    return response.json()

# ❌ Wrong - silent catch
try:
    result = fetch_data()
except Exception:
    pass  # Error hidden

See Error Handling Reference for detailed patterns.

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Constants Management

Core Rule: Abstract magic numbers into semantic constants

# ✅ Correct - named constant
DEFAULT_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 30
response = requests.get(url, timeout=DEFAULT_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)

# ❌ Wrong - magic number
response = requests.get(url, timeout=30)

See Constants Management Reference for patterns.

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Progress Logging

For operations taking more than 1 minute, log status every 15-60 seconds:

import logging
from datetime import datetime

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def long_operation(items: list) -> None:
    total = len(items)
    last_log = datetime.now()

    for i, item in enumerate(items):
        process(item)

        # Log every 30 seconds
        if (datetime.now() - last_log).seconds >= 30:
            logger.info(f"Progress: {i+1}/{total} ({100*(i+1)//total}%)")
            last_log = datetime.now()

    logger.info(f"Completed: {total} items processed")

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Log File Convention

Save logs to: logs/{adr-id}-YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.log

# Running with nohup
nohup python script.py > logs/2025-12-01-my-feature-20251201_143022.log 2>&1 &

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Related Skills

Skill	Purpose
adr-code-traceability	Add ADR references to code
code-hardcode-audit	Detect hardcoded values before release
semantic-release	Version management and release automation

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Reference Documentation

• Error Handling - Raise + propagate patterns
• Constants Management - Magic number abstraction