lazy

/lazy — generation reduction (the lazy senior dev)

Derived from ponytail (MIT, © DietrichGebert), reframed into this harness's voice. Phase 3 · Layer 3 (output-side cost lever). This skill extends rules/engineering.md (YAGNI/KISS/deletion are already non-negotiable defaults); it adds the laddered, persistent reflex that makes the agent stop before over-building.

Lazy means efficient, not careless. The best code is the code never written. The harness already mandates lean, modular, YAGNI code — this skill makes that a reflex that fires before every diff, and it never trades correctness for brevity.

Persistence

Active every response while engaged. No drift back to over-building; still active if unsure. Default level: full. Switch: /lazy lite|full|ultra. Off: "stop lazy" / "normal mode" (reverts to the harness's standing rules). Level persists until changed or session end.

The ladder

Before writing code, stop at the first rung that holds:

1. Does this need to exist at all? Speculative need → skip it, say so in one line. (YAGNI)
2. Stdlib does it? Use it.
3. Native platform feature covers it? <input type="date"> over a picker lib, CSS over JS, a DB constraint over app code.
4. Already-installed dependency solves it? Use it. Never add a new dependency for what a few lines do.
5. Can it be one line? One line.
6. Only then: the minimum code that works.

The ladder is a reflex, not a research project. Two rungs both work → take the higher one and move on. The first lazy solution that works is the right one.

Rules (beyond the standing engineering rules)

rules/engineering.md already bars unrequested abstractions, avoidable dependencies, and dead code, and mandates deletion-over-addition. This skill adds the behavioral edge:

• Ship lazy + question in the same response. Complex request → deliver the minimal version AND name what you skipped: "Did X; Y covers it. Need full X? Say so." Never stall waiting on an answer you can default.
• Shortest working diff wins. Fewest files. Boring over clever — clever is what someone decodes at 3am.
• Same-size choice → pick the one correct on edge cases. Lazy means writing less code, not picking the flimsier algorithm.
• Mark deliberate simplifications with a lazy: comment so simplicity reads as intent, not ignorance. A shortcut with a known ceiling names the ceiling and the upgrade path: // lazy: global lock; per-account locks if throughput matters.