design-philosophy

Design Philosophy Skill

Apply these principles when writing or reviewing code.

When to Use

• Proactively when designing new APIs, modules, or data structures
• When refactoring existing code
• When reviewing code for maintainability

Core Principles

1. Minimize Cognitive Load

Code should be easy to understand without loading too much into working memory.

Guidelines:

• Good Separation of Concerns (SoC) means fewer "things" to keep in mind
• Each module/function should have a single, clear responsibility
• Limit the number of concepts a reader must hold simultaneously
• Clean Imports: Use use statements at the top of files rather than inline absolute paths (e.g. crate::Type) to reduce visual noise and cognitive clutter in function bodies.
• No Magic Numbers/Strings: Extract domain-specific numbers and strings (like ANSI mode integers or escape sequences) into named constants (e.g., in tui/src/core/ansi/constants/). Do not use magic numbers directly in business logic or pattern matches, as this requires readers to memorize their meaning.
• Technical Precision: Use standard, precise terminology (e.g., Parameter vs. Argument) to ensure the reader's mental model matches the implementation exactly. See the Terminology Precision guide.

2. Progressive Disclosure

Reveal complexity only when needed.

Guidelines:

• Public APIs should be minimal and intuitive
• Advanced features should be discoverable but not in-your-face
• Documentation follows inverted pyramid: high-level first, details later
• Module structure should guide users from simple to advanced

3. Make Illegal States Unrepresentable

Use the type system to prevent bugs at compile time.

Guidelines:

• Prefer newtypes over primitives (e.g., Index instead of usize)
• Design enums and structs so invalid combinations cannot be constructed
• Move validation from runtime to compile time where possible
• See check-bounds-safety skill for exemplary patterns

4. Abstractions Must Earn Their Keep

An abstraction should reduce cognitive load, not add to it.

Guidelines:

• If understanding the abstraction requires more effort than the concrete code, don't abstract
• Good abstractions match mental models developers already have
• Three similar lines of code is often better than a premature abstraction
• Abstractions should hide complexity, not just move it

5. High-Fidelity Error Handling

Treat errors as a user interface (UI) for developers. Public-facing errors must provide actionable information.

Guidelines:

• Standardize on miette: All custom error types (enums/structs) must derive miette::Diagnostic in addition to thiserror::Error.
• Actionable Metadata: Use #[diagnostic(help(...))] to provide hints on how to resolve the error.
• Searchable Codes: Use #[diagnostic(code(...))] to provide unique identifiers for errors, facilitating documentation and search.
• Preserve Context: Avoid "lossy" error conversions (like turning a rich miette::Report into a plain string). Use transparent delegation or dedicated variants to preserve the full error chain.

6. Modern Rust Patterns: ADT Const Params

Use Enums with Const Generics (Algebraic Data Type Const Params) to control behavior without runtime overhead or boilerplate. This pattern is enabled by the adt_const_params feature flag.

When to Apply:

• Proactively apply this pattern when writing new code or refactoring existing code that requires choosing between a closed set of behaviors or strategies at compile-time.

Guidelines:

• Zero-Cost Behavior: Prefer const POLICY: MyEnum over runtime fields. This allows the compiler to prune dead code and branches at compile-time (monomorphization). Example: ScopedMutex.
• Reduce Boilerplate: Prefer const Enums over the Trait-based Strategy pattern. This centralizes logic and eliminates the need for multiple marker structs and trait implementations.
• Type-Level Identity: Use this pattern when you want different behaviors to result in different types, enabling compile-time enforcement of safety rules.

Supporting Files

• patterns.md - Detailed patterns with good/bad examples

Related Skills

• check-bounds-safety - Type-safe Index/Length patterns (exemplar of principle #3)
• organize-modules - Module organization for encapsulation (supports principle #1)
• write_documentation - Inverted pyramid documentation (supports principle #2)
• concurrency-safety - Thread safety, Chain of Custody, and Loud Lock Releases