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Code Standards — The Change Workflow

A stack-agnostic discipline skill that forces orient → baseline → smallest change → test → verify → self-review on every code change.

Dev & CodingIntermediate★ 177⑂ 6AI score 9/10Last updated: Aug 16, 2026

What it does

Installs an execution order Claude follows before touching code:

  • Reads project docs (README, CONTRIBUTING, AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, Makefile, package scripts) to learn the real build/test/lint/format commands
  • Requires a green baseline before any edit; a pre-existing red build is task #1
  • Implements the smallest root-cause change, hand-matching surrounding style, and forbids mass auto-formatting that buries the diff
  • Adds a test that fails without the change; security gates get negative-assertion tests (wrong token → denied, state unchanged, no leak)
  • Only declares "done" after build + lint + type-check + tests are all green
  • Self-reviews the diff like someone else's PR, updates docs in the same change, and writes a conventional commit
  • Tripwires for shared interfaces, new dependencies, auth/token/permission paths, writing secrets to disk, and holding locks across await
  • No-progress guard: same failure after two fix attempts → log it, mark [BLOCKED], surface it instead of thrashing

Who it's for

  • Anyone tired of oversized, format-polluted AI diffs
  • Teams wanting one shared working discipline across languages and stacks
  • Developers touching auth/permissions who want negative tests by default

Examples

  1. "Fix the failing checkout bug" → gets tests green first, adds a reproducing test, applies a minimal fix, then runs the full check suite.
  2. "Rename this API response field" → tripwire fires: audits every caller and proposes an additive change instead of a breaking rename.
  3. During a refactor the same test fails twice → the no-progress guard stops, records the finding, marks the item [BLOCKED], and reports back.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Try it now, no install

Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.

Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tamdogood/builder-essential-skills/HEAD/skills/code-standards/SKILL.md

What I want: (describe your task here)

If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.

↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the skills/code-standards folder from the GitHub repo tamdogood/builder-essential-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/code-standards/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/tamdogood/builder-essential-skills.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r builder-essential-skills/skills/code-standards ~/.claude/skills/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/tamdogood/builder-essential-skills.git
  3. Create the skills directory: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
  4. Copy the skill: cp -r builder-essential-skills/skills/code-standards ~/.claude/skills/
  5. Confirm that ~/.claude/skills/code-standards/SKILL.md exists.
  6. Restart Claude Code and ask for any code change (bug fix, feature, refactor) — the skill triggers automatically.
  7. (Recommended) Pre-create tasks/todo.md and tasks/lessons.md in your project so the planning and lessons steps have a place to write.
View source on GitHub ↗License: MIT