C Systems Style Skill

Apply this skill whenever a task involves C API design, struct design, allocation, ownership transfer, error handling, or multi-step resource initialization.

Primary Goal

Produce C code that is easy to read, easy to review, and easy to maintain over time:

• Prefer straightforward control flow over clever abstraction.
• Keep APIs explicit and cross-platform friendly.
• Minimize preprocessor magic.
• Avoid typedef struct foo { ... } foo;-style aliasing unless there is a compelling API reason.
• Prefer ordinary declarations over macro-generated declarations.
• Prefer enum, static const, and normal helper functions over #define when they express the intent more clearly.
• If memory allocation may fail, the call site must check it immediately.
• Allocation failure in wlframe-style code must log with wlf_log_errno() before returning or unwinding.
• Partial initialization must unwind in reverse order without leaking resources.
• Ownership transfer and nullable-return contracts must remain obvious.

Design Goal