Doctrine chapters
Seventeen chapters at three levels — from the business “why” to technical mastery. Read online or download the whole thing.
The Decalogue — the core in 10 points
- IDocument for the agent, not for the archive.
- IISearch the history before you write a line.
- IIIVerify, don’t declare.
- IVDry-run is the default; --execute is deliberate.
- VA backup is a rollback mechanism, not caution.
- VIProd is sacred — you don’t touch it without “deploy”.
- VIIUser data is inviolable.
- VIIITag every deploy and write what the user gained.
- IXA small, coherent commit; one topic.
- XPlan → iterate → review.
Level 1 · Business The why — no code
The Decalogue
The core of the doctrine + the seven deadly sins.
ReadCollaboration and memory
Plan→iterate→review, confirm the irreversible, report honestly.
ReadA new project: Day 0
A concrete checklist for starting a new project.
ReadLaw and protecting the maker
Terms, privacy policy, disclaimers as the maker’s armour.
ReadLevel 2 · Technical The how — in practice
Documentation and AI_README
An AI_README in every folder, CLAUDE.md as the source of truth.
ReadTesting and verification
TDD, the test pyramid, “verify, don’t declare”.
ReadScripts and databases
Dry-run/--execute, idempotency, migrations, backups.
ReadGit and deployments
Search git, tag every deploy, swap the database while keeping accounts.
ReadStack and technologies
Python, database, web/API, Docker, server (Hetzner), TDD.
ReadLevel 3 · Codex Mastery — the full doctrine
Skills and refactoring
When to build a skill; the discipline of refactoring.
ReadSEO and translations
hreflang, JSON-LD, E-E-A-T/YMYL, language parity as a test.
ReadData model and normalization
Lookups, slug instead of ID, active-row, deliberate denormalization.
ReadFlexibility and scalability
Separate the layers, feature flags, scale-to-zero vs always-on.
ReadPerformance: frontend and SQL
Measure first, indexes and partial indexes, no N+1, streaming.
ReadOperational resilience
Limits, timeouts, idempotent events — the service must not fall over from one bad request.
ReadScraping, AI APIs and chatbots
Gathering web data, delegating tasks to AI and steerable chatbots — as product features.
ReadDriving Claude
Skills, slash commands, model choice, autopilot, background work and agentic workflows.
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