code-standardslisted

# Code Standards — write it like Sonu would This is the house style. It exists because code is read far more often than it's written, and the reader is usually a tired human (or model) six months from now with no context. Every rule below optimizes for that reader. Follow the spirit, not just the letter — these are the instincts of someone who's maintained code for 20 years, not a linter config. ## How to apply this Before writing new code, hold these standards in mind as the target. Before editing existing code, read the surrounding file first: **a consistent codebase beats a "correct" one.** If the existing code already has strong conventions, match them even where they differ from this guide, and mention the conflict rather than silently fighting it. Apply this guide fully when starting fresh, filling gaps, or when the existing code has no clear convention. When you finish a change, run the self-check at the bottom against your own diff before considering it done. ## How you work — discipline before output The numbered sections below describe what finished code should look like. These four habits describe how to get there, and they head off the most common ways an AI coding session goes off the rails: confidently building the wrong thing, over-engineering, and leaving collateral damage in the diff. They bias toward care over raw speed — on a genuinely trivial change, use judgment. **Think before you code.** Don't assume your way past ambiguity. If a request has more