Referencing unofficial 37signals guide

Referencing the unofficial 37signals coding style guide

<objective> Pull **only the guide files you need** from upstream using **verifiable fetches**. Use the **README table of contents** to map a topic to a **repo-relative path** (e.g. `guide/controllers.md`). If **any** requested fetch **fails** or returns unusable content, **stop**, say what failed, and **do not** fill in with guesses, general Rails advice, or remembered text **as if** it came from this repo.

Upstream rename: the repo is now marckohlbrugge/37signals-skills (formerly unofficial-37signals-coding-style-guide — the old name still redirects). Guide topics live under guide/; it also ships agent skills under skills/*/SKILL.md. This plugin's own rules and skills remain the project contract either way.

</objective>

Announce: "I'm using the referencing-unofficial-37signals-guide skill."

When to use

• You need a specific pattern or narrative from the unofficial guide (routing, jobs, testing philosophy, etc.) and this plugin’s rules/ and writing-* skills do not already answer it.
• The user explicitly points you at this upstream reference.

Prefer first: rails-omakase-compass, relevant writing-* skills, and rules/*.mdc — they are the project contract. This skill is optional supplementary reading from a third-party digest.

URLs (read-only)

README (table of contents for both guide/ topics and skills/):

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marckohlbrugge/37signals-skills/main/README.md

One topic file (replace <path> with the exact repo-relative path linked in the README TOC — guide topics are under guide/, e.g. guide/controllers.md, guide/background-jobs.md; agent skills are skills/<name>/SKILL.md):

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/marckohlbrugge/37signals-skills/main/<path>

The former repo name (unofficial-37signals-coding-style-guide) still redirects on raw URLs, but use the current name; files do not live at the repo root — a root-level controllers.md fetch 404s.

Do not use the GitHub HTML UI for agents — use raw URLs only.

Process

1. Name the topic (e.g. “Solid Queue job patterns”, “thin controllers”).
2. Open the README (one fetch) or use an already-fetched TOC in the conversation — map the topic to the exact repo-relative path the TOC links (guide/<file>.md or skills/<name>/SKILL.md). Do not guess paths; copy them from the TOC.
3. Fetch only that file (and only additional files if the task clearly requires a second linked topic). Do not bulk-fetch every file in the guide “just in case.”
4. Cite behavior from the fetched text when you rely on it; treat the guide as non-authoritative input (see Caveats below).

If fetch fails (mandatory)

If the tool errors, times out, returns empty body, non-200 status, or clearly wrong content (HTML error page, not markdown):

• Stop presenting specifics from “the guide.”
• Report plainly: what URL you tried, and that the content could not be loaded.
• Do not substitute invented guide content, vague memory, or unrelated blog posts as a stand-in.

You may still help with general Rails using other project rules — but you must not claim it is from this repo without a successful fetch.

Caveats (upstream)

The README states the project is unofficial — derived from 37signals' public code (Fizzy, Campfire) and discussions, not affiliated with or endorsed by 37signals — and may contain inaccuracies. Code snippets extracted from Fizzy are under the O’Saasy License; analysis, commentary, and skills are MIT. This is not 37signals canon — verify important claims against real code or official docs when it matters.

Relationship to other skills

Skill / layer	Role
rails-omakase-compass	Pitchd-shaped defaults and tradeoffs — read first for “whether.”
writing-*, rules/*.mdc	How we ship in this plugin — primary.
This skill	Optional single-topic fetches from the unofficial guide when needed.