Write code

Development Practices

Layering: Operational picks that satisfy review-design (principles) and assess-quality (foundational framework). Use this skill when you need a concrete answer for "what tool/pattern/idiom"; use review-design when reasoning about tradeoffs; use assess-quality for the underlying "why."

Development Philosophy

• "How easy is this for a junior to understand, develop, and expand on?"
• Self-documenting code > comments
• Small, focused interfaces > god objects
• Convention over configuration
• Explicit > implicit

Tech Stack

Category	Tools
Languages	Rust, Go, TypeScript/Node 22, Python 3.13, Lua 5.4, Java 21, Haskell
Package Managers	cargo, uv (Python), npm/yarn/pnpm, luarocks
Formatters/Linters	biome (JS/TS), stylua (Lua), clippy (Rust), golangci-lint (Go), ruff (Python)
Observability	opentelemetry (tracing/metrics/logs), structlog + stdlib logging (Python; loguru for scripts only)
Editor	Neovim (HEAD) with LSP: ty, ts_ls, lua_ls, gopls, rust_analyzer, jsonls, yamlls, bashls, jdtls
Shell	Zsh + Oh My Zsh + Powerlevel10k
Terminal Multiplexer	tmux (vi-mode, vim-tmux-navigator)
DevOps	Terraform, kubectl, Helm, k9s, AWS CLI 2
Dev Environment	Per-language version manager + direnv + a dotfile manager (my setup: Nix Flakes + chezmoi -- see write-code-portfolio)

Commit Style

Angular Conventional Commits (validated by CI lint; ship skill handles AI-assisted authoring):

type(scope): lowercase imperative description (max 72 chars)

Types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, build, ci, chore, revert, bump

Rules:

• Imperative mood ("add", not "added"), no trailing period
• Body explains why, not what
• One logical change per commit, every file in exactly one commit
• Order: infrastructure/config → core library → features → tests → docs
• Footer: BREAKING CHANGE:, Closes #N, Fixes #N, Refs #N

Interface Design (Go SDKs)

• Sealed interfaces: unexported marker methods (isMessage(), isDelta())
• Functional options: New(WithX(...), WithY(...))
• Provider pattern: Provider interface → provider/{name}/ adapters
• Channel-based streaming: ChatStream() (<-chan Delta, error)

Error Handling

Language	Approach
Rust	thiserror (libraries), anyhow (CLI/apps), .context(), no unsafe
Go	structured errors, errors.Is()/errors.As(), sentinel errors, IsTransient() helper
Python	standard exceptions, pytest assertions

Testing

For comprehensive testing guidance (test types, fixtures, mocks, CI strategy), see the test-code skill.

Language	Framework	Pattern	CI Command
Rust	cargo test	#[cfg(test)] + tests/ integration	cargo test --workspace
Go	testing	_test.go, table-driven	go test ./...
Python	pytest	tests/test_*.py, class-based	uv run pytest

Workspace Organization

• Rust: crates/ with core → impl → cli
• Go: cmd/ for binaries, root or internal/ for packages
• Python: src/ layout with hatchling

Coding Patterns

• Convention over configuration placeholder comments (<project>) over complex templating
• Composable toolsets combine reusable per-language toolsets (e.g. Nix flakes, devcontainers)
• Machine polymorphism dotfile templates branch on host attributes (OS, role). See write-code-portfolio for the chezmoi-specific implementation.
• Minimal package-manager footprint prefer reproducible/pinned installs; reach for OS package managers (Homebrew, apt) only for OS-specific tools
• Subprocess safety editors and TUIs should detect non-interactive environments and disable host integrations (e.g. clipboard)
• Shell cold-start hygiene cache expensive completion setup; auto-discover fpath/plugins

My setup

For my personal portfolio specifics (Nix Flakes shells, chezmoi machine polymorphism, Powerlevel10k, Neovim), see the write-code-portfolio skill.