๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐
Your AI guide grows over time. You add rules to fix bugs. You forget old rules. This creates system debt.
Debt looks like this:
- Rules fighting each other.
- Rules pointing to deleted files.
- Rules with unknown purposes.
- Rules fitting old code.
Your AI follows the first rule it sees. The second rule becomes dead weight. You pay for tokens. You waste review time.
Audit your guide every quarter.
Follow this list:
- Read the whole file. Do not skim.
- Check every file path. Delete orphans.
- Find rules never firing. Mark them for deletion.
- Ask why a rule exists. If no one knows, put it on probation.
Add a one line note to every rule. Write the mistake it prevents. Example: Added after the double migration bug. This helps the next person know if the rule still matters.
Treat your guide like a garden. Prune the dead parts. Keep the signal clear.
Delete the guide rule if a test or lint rule now catches the error. The rule was scaffolding. The lesson lives in the code.
Open your guide today. Read it end to end. The surprises you find are your debt. Delete ten bad rules. Your AI will work better next week.