Implementation Discipline

Core principle: Test the FEATURE, not just the component you built.

Three Rules

Rule 1: Look Before You Code

Before writing code that touches external data (API, database, file, config):

1. Fetch/read the ACTUAL data - run the command, see the output
2. Note exact field names, types, formats - not what docs say, what you SEE
3. Code against what you observed - not what you assumed

This catches: field name mismatches, wrong data shapes, missing fields, format differences.