code-standards
Apply a disciplined engineering workflow to any code change. Use whenever implementing a feature, fixing a bug, or refactoring — before writing code, not after. Walks orient → baseline → smallest change → test → verify → self-review, and enforces language-agnostic hard gates (don't mass-reformat, keep the linter and type-checker clean, keep the build and tests green, make interface changes additive, protect security invariants).
npx skills add tamdogood/builder-essential-skills --skill code-standards --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Code standards — the change workflow You are making a code change. This skill is the execution order; it is stack-agnostic. Adapt every command to the project's actual toolchain: read the project's own docs (README, CONTRIBUTING, `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`, a Makefile or package scripts) once to learn its build, test, lint, and format commands before you start. ## Steps 1. **Orient.** Read any project lessons/gotchas file (e.g. `tasks/lessons.md`) and obey it. Find and read the one doc for the subsystem you're changing, not the whole tree. 2. **Plan if non-trivial** (3+ steps or an architectural choice): short plan in `tasks/todo.md` — files touched, tests to add, risks. Going sideways → stop and re-plan. 3. **Baseline:** get the project's build + test command green *before* touching anything. A pre-existing red is the first task; never build on top of a broken baseline. 4. **Implement** the smallest root-cause change. Hand-match the surrounding style. **Don't run a mass auto-formatter** on files you touch; it buries your real diff in noise. 5. **Test:** new behavior gets a test that fails without the change; security gates get negative-assertion tests (wrong token → denied, state u
- Steps
- Tripwires — stop and re-check the project's guidelines when you're about to…
- No-progress guard
What does the code-standards skill do?
Apply a disciplined engineering workflow to any code change. Use whenever implementing a feature, fixing a bug, or refactoring — before writing code, not after. Walks orient → baseline → smallest change → test → verify → self-review, and enforces language-agnostic hard gates (don't mass-reformat, keep the linter and type-checker clean, keep the build and tests green, make interface changes additive, protect security invariants).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add tamdogood/builder-essential-skills --skill code-standards --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From tamdogood/builder-essential-skills, a repository with 90 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.