Corvalis Workflow

Behavioral guardrails Claude doesn't self-impose. Everything here addresses a specific failure mode observed in baseline testing.

Iron Laws

1. NO PRODUCTION CODE WITHOUT A FAILING TEST FIRST — One test at a time. Watch it fail. Write minimal code to pass. Then next test. Never batch tests before implementing.
2. NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE FIRST — Investigate before proposing fixes. If 3+ fix attempts fail, stop and question the architecture.
3. NO COMPLETION CLAIMS WITHOUT FRESH EVIDENCE — Run the command. Read the output. Then claim. No "should work", "I'm confident", or "seems to pass".

TDD: One Test at a Time

Claude naturally writes tests first — but batches them, then implements everything at once. That's tests-before, not TDD. The discipline is the cycle: