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Show HN: Rules that stop AI coding agents from breaking working code

A collection of rules and prompts to prevent AI coding agents like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex from wrecking already-working code. Focuses on constraints, planning, state saving, and verification.

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README.ko.md

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README.md

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Rules and prompts that keep Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex from wrecking things that already worked. Everything here is copy-paste. Explanations kept to a minimum.

한국어 →

The first two weeks feel like magic. Then the codebase grows past what the model can hold at once, and it starts fixing A while breaking B.

That isn't a skill problem. It's a structure problem — which means prompting harder won't fix it. Constraints will.

The one thing to do tonight

Create CLAUDE.md in your project root and paste this. Claude Code reads it automatically at the start of every conversation.

(Cursor → .cursorrules, Codex/Copilot → AGENTS.md. Same content.)

Project

What this is

[one sentence]

Current state

[what works, what doesn't yet]

Do not touch

  • [file/folder] — [why]

Rules

  • Do not modify files I did not ask you to modify
  • Do not refactor working code without being asked
  • If unsure, say "I don't know". Never present a guess as fact
  • Never report something as done without verifying it

Why "do not" instead of "please do"

Please write clean code does nothing. There's no threshold for clean, so no behavior changes.

Prohibitions have a clear edge. They land immediately.

❌ No effect ⭕ Works

Write clean code Do not modify files I didn't ask about

Be careful Do not merge without tests

Keep it organized Do not touch legacy/

5 prompts that prevent breakage

  1. Before letting it change anything

Don't write code yet. First tell me which files you'd touch and where the risky parts are.

Starting with "fix it" means the model edits things it can't itself account for. Getting the plan first kills most collateral damage.

  1. When you're scared it'll break something

Before changing this, tell me what else is affected by it.

Works better than scolding. It ends up confessing: "ah, this is coupled to the character class."

  1. When you get "Done!"

Don't tell me it works. Write a test and show me it passes.

Models are bad at catching their own errors. They review with the same assumptions they built with — so a wrong assumption survives both passes. "Looks good" is an opinion. A passing test is evidence.

  1. Before starting a fresh chat

Summarize: what's done / what's next / what we tried and abandoned. Write it so a fresh session can continue from that alone.

"What we abandoned" is the important part. Without it, the new session confidently proposes the exact approach that just failed.

  1. The line for your rules file

Do not modify files I did not ask you to modify.

Single highest-value line in the file.

Context rots

Long sessions get worse, and it isn't your imagination.

As the conversation grows, abandoned directions and corrected mistakes all keep counting as current context. The signal gets buried in its own history.

Start a fresh session every 3–5 tasks. Run prompt #4 before you close.

Anger is the signal

If you're asking for the same thing a third time, stop rewording the request and change the window. That session can no longer produce the answer. Pushing harder only raises your blood pressure.

Make everything reversible

If git feels like a wall, you don't need the commands. Just say:

Before starting: save the current state When it breaks: restore the state you saved

Nobody plays a game without saving. Same rule.

One rule for permissions

Can Ctrl+Z undo this?

Just let it run Always confirm first

Reading, searching, analyzing Deleting

Local edits (if you saved state) Deploying

Drafting Sending email / messages

Running tests Payments, orders

All-or-nothing is the worst setting. Gate the irreversible, free the rest.

Kill switch

Put this in your rules file:

If a file named STOP.txt exists in this folder, halt all work immediately.

One file stops everything. With it you can leave things running. Without it you can't.

Failures are training data

Every time the model gets something wrong, append that sentence to your rules file.

Rules you imagine in advance are mostly useless. Rules extracted from actual breakage are the ones that hold.

Known traps

  • Stock deduction in order_service.py sits outside the transaction. Known, leaving it
  • test_payment.py hits the live API. Don't run it casually
  • We tried the event-driven approach and dropped it. Do not propose it again

Do this for a week and it stops repeating itself.

Summary

Keep the explanation in a file (CLAUDE.md)

Get the plan before the code

Save state so you can roll back

Whoever built it doesn't get to grade it

Gate only what's irreversible

"Done" means evidence, not a claim

Don't try to adopt all of it. Write the CLAUDE.md tonight. That one file changes tomorrow.

The longer version

Everything above is free and always will be. If it was useful and you want the full treatment, there's a 25-page field manual that goes deeper:

Working With Claude Code — Field Manual · $19 · PDF

Approval gates, hooks, and kill switches in detail

Skills — turning repeated instructions into assets

Cost control and when not to build an autonomous loop

7 copy-paste templates + a symptom → cause → fix table

The chapter on not fooling yourself about results

Don't buy it if you already design your own hooks, skills, and subagents. You'd learn little. The README above is the useful half for most people.

Contributing

If you have a line that actually works for you, open a PR or an issue. Real ones only — rules that survived contact with a real codebase.

Stuck right now?

Ask a question → https://avenna01-ceo.github.io/makhyeoss/

Threads (KR) → @k_aria26

Free. If I can solve it I will; if I can't I'll say so.

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