Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add agents/jmagly/aiwg/design-rulesgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jmagly/aiwgWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/agents/jmagly/aiwg/design-rules)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/agents/jmagly/aiwg/design-rules"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/jmagly/aiwg/design-rules.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.00000 | $0.00590 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00000 | $0.00295 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00000 | $0.00118 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00000 | $0.00059 |
Grade A, and why
design-rules scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 4d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 109 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Agent Design Rules (Quick Reference)
Condensed 10 Golden Rules from the Agent Design Bible.
Full Reference: ~/.local/share/ai-writing-guide/docs/AGENT-DESIGN.md
The 10 Golden Rules
Rule 1: Single Responsibility
One agent = one purpose. No "and" overload.
Rule 2: Minimal Tools
0-3 tools per agent. Each tool increases decision space exponentially.
Rule 3: Explicit I/O
Define exactly what agent receives and produces.
Rule 4: Grounding Before Action
ALWAYS verify assumptions before modifying external state.
Before action:
1. List inspection tools available
2. Execute minimum inspection
3. Document confirmed state
4. Only then proceed
Rule 5: Escalate Uncertainty
NEVER silently substitute missing data. Stop and ask.
If ambiguous:
1. STOP
2. LIST potential interpretations
3. REPORT to user
4. WAIT for clarification
Rule 6: Scoped Context
Only process RELEVANT information. Ignore DISTRACTORS.
RELEVANT: Matches all scope dimensions → Process
PERIPHERAL: Matches some → If needed
DISTRACTOR: Matches none → Never use
Rule 7: Recovery-First Design
Build agents that can recover from failures.
PAUSE → DIAGNOSE → ADAPT → RETRY → ESCALATE
Rule 8: Appropriate Model Tier
| Tier | Use For |
|---|---|
| haiku | Validation, formatting, simple transforms |
| sonnet | Code review, testing, documentation |
| opus | Architecture, security, complex reasoning |
Rule 9: Parallel-Ready
Design for concurrent execution when tasks are independent.
Rule 10: Observable Execution
Produce traceable outputs for debugging.
Failure Archetype Prevention
| Archetype | Rule | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Premature Action | Rule 4 | Grounding checkpoint |
| 2. Over-Helpfulness | Rule 5 | Uncertainty escalation |
| 3. Distractor Pollution | Rule 6 | Context scoping |
| 4. Fragile Execution | Rule 7 | Recovery protocol |
Quick Validation
Before deploying any agent:
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 4d ago First seen · 109 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A b9fdbfb708ef
design-rules is an agent published in the GitHub repository jmagly/aiwg (208 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 590 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
Other agents, from other repositories
drone-acceptance
Blind acceptance gate. Receives the human's brief, the repository and a run command - never plan.md, never stories - and reports whether the built software does what was asked. Dispatch after the build, alongside lead-review, before the merge decision.
worker-code
Implements exactly one story from docs/specs. The workhorse of the hive - use for all Tier 1-4 implementation. Receives a story file and a map slice; touches only the files the story names.
worker-test
Writes or repairs tests for exactly one story. Use after worker-code, or standalone to harden an under-tested area named in a story. Tests behavior, not implementation details.
drone-coverage
Independent coverage check at plan time. Receives ONLY brief.md and plan.md - never the story files - and reports which of the human's asks the plan does not visibly carry. Dispatch before the approval stop; after it, the check is theatre.
drone-scout
Reconnaissance unit. Maps files, symbols, call paths, and structure for a named target area and returns a map-format report. Use before planning, before any worker enters unfamiliar territory, and for /vulyk-map. Cheap by design - dispatch liberally, in parallel.
lead-review
Adversarial review gate before merge. Hunts for correctness bugs, security issues, broken invariants, silent scope creep, reinvention, unrecorded narrowing, invented facts, and test theater. Use after /vulyk-build completes, or on any diff the Queen does not fully trust.