rigorous-coding skill

Overview

This skill enforces rigorous coding standards during writing, implementation, and code review. It helps developers state assumptions, surface edge cases, and avoid unverified correctness claims. The goal is more reliable, maintainable JavaScript by forcing explicit conditions and comprehensive reasoning.

How this skill works

The skill inspects proposed code and developer prose to ensure assumptions are stated before code is written and that correctness claims are verified or hedged. It flags happy-path-only implementations, missing failure modes, and absent operational conditions. It suggests testable preconditions, postconditions, and explicit runtime invariants.

When to use it

• When drafting new JavaScript functions or modules to document explicit assumptions first.
• During code reviews to detect unstated edge cases and overconfident claims.
• When writing design notes or PR descriptions that should include operating conditions.
• While building error handling and validation to ensure non-happy-paths are covered.
• When converting quick prototypes into production-ready components.

Best practices

• Always state assumptions and preconditions before coding the solution.
• Avoid asserting correctness without evidence; include tests or checks.
• Enumerate failure modes and handle or document them explicitly.
• Specify the input domain, expected outputs, and environmental constraints.
• Write small, testable units with clear invariants and rollback behavior.

Example use cases

• A reviewer detects a function that assumes non-null input; the skill requests explicit null handling or documented precondition.
• A developer preparing a PR lists assumptions, edge cases, and required integration tests before merging.
• Converting a prototype async routine into production code by adding timeout handling and retry policies.
• Designing an API endpoint and enumerating rate limits, authentication expectations, and failure responses.
• Automating a checklist for library releases that verifies documented guarantees match implemented checks.

FAQ