Pragmatic Programmer / general engineering layer

The Pragmatic Programmer rules for AI agents.

A general engineering layer for responsibility, DRY at the knowledge level, orthogonality, automation, feedback loops, prototyping, and adaptability.

engineering judgmentautomationfeedback loops

Use when

You need broad engineering pressure without choosing a narrower book for architecture, refactoring, or production.

Default version

mini works well as a project-wide default.

Good companions

Combine carefully; it overlaps with some everyday code quality layers.