Three surgical fixes to conductor/edit_workflow.md:
1. **§2 "Verify Before Editing"** — removed the leftover
`git checkout -- src/gui_2.py` instruction. The user's
commit `4eba059e unfuck edit workflow` removed most of
the git checkout nuke instructions but missed §2. The
revised §2 now says: read the contract (function signature,
yield shape, return type) before editing, and DO NOT use
`git checkout` to revert. Ask the user.
2. **§3 "Reading Before Editing"** — added the line-number
offset check. `set_file_slice` uses 1-indexed inclusive
`start_line`/`end_line`; off-by-one is a common silent
failure. The rule is now: confirm the exact line range
with `get_file_slice` first.
3. **§8 "set_file_slice IS Valid for Multi-Line Content
(Revised 2026-06-09)"** — replaced the wrong rule
("Do not use set_file_slice for multi-line content") with
the correct rule: set_file_slice IS valid for 3-10 line
surgical edits, with a tool-selection guide (which tool
for which job), a mandatory contract-change check
(search for callers of the symbol being changed; update
all callers in the same atomic commit if the public
interface changes), and a mandatory whitespace-and-EOL
rule (preserve line ending, indentation, and line count).
4. **§9 "No Diagnostic Noise in Production Code
(Added 2026-06-09)"** — new section. Diag stderr goes
to log files or /tmp scripts, NOT src/*.py. If you must
add diag lines to production code, they are part of the
same atomic commit as the fix — they do not live
uncommitted in the working tree.
5. **"If set_file_slice produces wrong indentation"** —
new handler in the Step-by-Step Workflow. Tells the
agent: you wrote the wrong indent; the tool did what
you asked; re-read the file with get_file_slice; do
NOT use git checkout to revert.
These are the rule corrections the user demanded after
the Tier-2's bad set_file_slice + git nuke + diag-noise
behavior. Markdown only. No code modified.
Captures the 5 patterns that burned the most time in the
startup_speedup_20260606 sub-track 4 work:
1. ALWAYS use manual-slop_edit_file, not custom scripts
(custom scripts fail silently on indent/EOL/whitespace drift)
2. The decorator-orphan pitfall
(inserting before 'def foo' leaves @property decorating YOUR new method)
3. ast.parse() is not enough
(semantic errors aren't caught; import + instantiate + call after every edit)
4. The git restore trap
(don't run git status/restore while a user is mid-conversation)
5. Small verified edits beat big scripts
(edit_workflow says 3-10 lines; if you write 200 lines of script, wrong tool)
Also adds 2 new anti-patterns to the Critical list in AGENTS.md and
3 new sections to conductor/edit_workflow.md (decorator-orphan,
ast.parse-not-enough, set_file_slice-is-literal).
conductor-tier2
ed