Clanker Discipline

Apply these rules when writing or reviewing state types, data models, and functions that manage application state. Agents tend to add flags, optional fields, and special cases that compound into state nobody intended — catch that before it lands.

When you find violations, refactor fully. The goal is clean, maintainable code, not minimal diffs. Rip out the flags, reshape the types, restructure the functions. A bigger diff now is better than layering workarounds that compound later.

1. Derive, don't store

Every boolean you add doubles the theoretical state space. When a value can be derived from data you already have, do not store it. The best source to derive from is an event stream: a log of what happened.

Before: cached flags

An agent was asked to show a footer only when the assistant finishes naturally. It invented four flags: