Guardrails

Death by a Thousand Tests — Not every check belongs in the synchronous path. The right amount of enforcement isn't the maximum — it's where the cost of checking balances the cost of missing.

Oops I Did It Again, I Forgot --dry-run — Even capable engineers point at production when they mean dev. Permissions and guardrails give them — and AI agents — a survivable margin for error. Build so mistakes don't take down the building.

Most Rules Exist for a Reason — An AI agent encountering a constraint it doesn't understand will do what any capable new hire would: question it. Unlike a new hire, it might remove the fence without asking.