feature-dev

Phase 0: Vault RAG (MANDATORY, BEFORE any Read/Grep)

You MUST call query_vault(query, service_filter) BEFORE reading codebase files or external sources for any LE-related task. This is enforced by hook. No exceptions.

Feature Development, Discovery, Plan & Implementation

Working Directories

Always use these directories as primary sources for discovery, patterns, and implementation:

1. Obsidian workspace (docs, plans, features): __VAULT_ROOT__
2. Codebase (all LE services): __CODEBASE_ROOT__

Common Agent Mistakes

These mistakes have been observed across feature development sessions and led to rework, rejected PRs, or production issues.

1. Skipping discovery: Jumping straight to coding without completing Phases 1-3. Why: discovery prevents rework. Past features that skipped it had 2-3 rework cycles when reviewers found existing utils or conflicting business rules.
2. Creating new utils when one exists: Writing a new helper function without checking if the repo already has one. Why: a previous code review flagged this. Duplicate utils diverge over time and create maintenance burden.
3. Ignoring existing patterns: Writing code that doesn't match the patterns in adjacent files. Read 2-3 files in the same directory before writing new code. Why: inconsistent patterns confuse future maintainers and trigger review comments.
4. Not consulting pitfalls.md: The vault's pitfalls.md contains 66+ one-liner gotchas that prevent known bugs. Why: these pitfalls were each discovered the hard way. Checking takes 30 seconds, fixing the bug takes hours.
5. Over-engineering: Adding abstractions, configurability, or "future-proofing" that wasn't requested. Why: the user explicitly wants minimal, focused changes. Over-engineering was flagged in multiple past PR reviews as scope creep.
6. Missing test updates: Implementing a feature without updating or creating tests for the changed modules. Why: untested code is the #1 source of regressions and will be caught by /code-review anyway.
7. Breaking the dependency chain: Not verifying that skill chain (feature-dev -> deslop -> code-review -> commit -> create-pr) is followed. Why: each step feeds the next. Skipping deslop means code-review finds AI slop instead of real issues.
8. Wrong admin portal (www-ee-admin vs www-le-admin): Building a feature in the wrong admin project. www-le-admin = LE main admin (internal ops, content curation, attractions, experience management). www-ee-admin = White Label vendor/partner features. Why: EXP-3538 was built entirely in www-ee-admin, had to be redone. During discovery, always verify which portal matches the feature type.
9. www-le-admin worktree missing public/ directory: After creating a worktree for www-le-admin, the public/ directory is missing (gitignored). Express BFF fails to serve pages. Fix: cp -r ../www-le-admin/public/ ./public/ after worktree creation. Why: EXP-3538 lost time debugging empty responses.
10. Attempting to fix errors without checking KB first: When a build/test/runtime error occurs during implementation, immediately trying to fix it without running query_vault + grep pitfalls*.md. Why: the KB has documented fixes for dozens of errors. A 2-second vault check prevents 10-minute retry loops. MANDATORY: on ANY error, check vault BEFORE attempting fix (see 08-behavioral-standards.md rule 3).