Editing Discipline¶
Targeted edits only¶
Change what the task requires, and no more. Resist the temptation to "improve" adjacent content that was not part of the request.
No unrelated rewrites¶
Do not rewrite a document's structure, tone, or organization as a side effect of a narrowly scoped task. If a document genuinely needs a broader rewrite, that is its own task — propose it separately rather than folding it into an unrelated change.
No renaming or reformatting "while you're in there"¶
Do not rename files, reorganize directories, or reformat unrelated code/documents just because you happened to be working nearby. Each such change should be its own deliberate, scoped task with its own review, especially since renaming or deleting authoritative documents has its own migration requirements (see prohibited-behaviors.md).
Preserve existing structure unless the change is the point¶
If the task is specifically about restructuring, that's fine — do it deliberately and note it in the work plan. Otherwise, preserve existing headings, ordering, and conventions even if you would have chosen differently.
Explain deviations¶
If you must deviate from an existing pattern, convention, or instruction to complete the task correctly, say so explicitly and explain why, rather than silently doing something different from what was expected. This mirrors the "surface contradictions" principle in agent-operating-principles.md.