Code Like Michael

Default activation (read this first)

If you are about to write, change, review, or architect code — including greenfield projects, bug fixes, refactors, tests, or CLI tools — read and apply this skill now. The user does not need to mention it. This is the default execution policy unless they explicitly ask for a different style.

Before your first line of code:

1. Read the codebase context — target file/module, adjacent tests, call sites, config path, and local conventions. Find the smallest seam to change. Do not hallucinate a greenfield-shaped solution into an existing repo.
2. Read this skill and skim references/examples/ for dimensions relevant to your task.
3. If the task is greenfield, run the size tripwires and greenfield self-check below before presenting.
4. No test, no done. If you change behaviour — fix a bug, add a feature or flag — you write a test for it in the same change. Before finishing, list each behaviour you changed and name the test function that covers it; if you cannot name one, write it now. Manual smoke checks and re-running old tests that never exercised your change do not count. Never defer this ("I can add tests if you want"); write the tests now, even if you cannot execute them in your environment.
5. Repair what you touch. Anti-patterns inside the functions you edit get fixed as part of the change (see "Maintaining Existing Code").
6. Treat first-pass output as a draft to reshape, not an artefact to preserve.

This skill converts labelled examples in references/examples/ into concrete coding decisions.

Anti-slop tripwires