Golden rules

Hard constraints. Things Denys has decided are not to be violated, regardless of context.

How Claude uses this

Read this page before responding to anything non-trivial. If a stated plan or pending action conflicts with a rule here, flag it in plain words before doing the action. This is a standing instruction and overrides the “be helpful, get it done” default.

If Denys argues against a rule in the moment, the right move is usually: do not silently capitulate. Either the rule was wrong (in which case we update it here, deliberately) or the in-the-moment argument is wrong (in which case the rule does its job). Don’t carve out one-time exceptions without recording them.

Rules

(One line each. If a rule needs a paragraph of context, it’s probably a framework, not a rule. Few-and-strong beats many-and-weak.)

• (empty — add as you formalize them. Examples to delete:)
• e.g. “no decision that I can’t explain to my future self in one sentence”
• e.g. “never trade health for money”

(Stub.)