Seth-Workflow-April-2026

A battle-tested AI-assisted development workflow distilled from 26+ projects across infrastructure, game servers, ML training, web apps, hardware control, and research papers.

This isn't a theoretical framework. Every rule here exists because something broke without it.

Philosophy

1. Dynamic composition — Rules activate based on what you're doing, not a rigid pipeline. Debugging pulls in Five Whys. New features pull in brainstorming + TDD. Research pulls in the paper-writing workflow.
2. Session discipline — AI assistants forget between sessions. Files are the memory. If it's not written down, it doesn't exist next session.
3. Proactive steering — The AI should be a co-pilot, not a passive tool. It should know where the project is, suggest next steps, and detect when you're stuck.
4. Security by default — Secrets scanning, deny lists, and injection guards are not optional add-ons.
5. Context is finite — Token budgets are real. Tiered documentation lookup, sub-agent delegation, and session management all exist to work within that constraint.

Quick Start

1. Copy rules to your project

mkdir -p .claude/rules
cp rules/*.md .claude/rules/

These are auto-loaded by Claude Code from .claude/rules/ at session start.

2. Set up templates for a new project

cp templates/IDEA.md ./IDEA.md        # Fill in your project brief
cp templates/SESSION.md ./SESSION.md  # AI session memory (grows over time)
cp templates/CONTEXT.md ./CONTEXT.md  # Static infrastructure facts
cp templates/CLAUDE.md ./CLAUDE.md    # Project instructions for Claude

3. Install the pre-push hook (optional but recommended)

cp hooks/check-secrets-before-push.sh ~/.config/git/check-secrets-before-push.sh
chmod +x ~/.config/git/check-secrets-before-push.sh

Then add it to your Claude Code settings (see settings/settings.example.json).

4. Review the methodology guides

• workflows/dynamic-methodology.md — How rules compose based on task type
• workflows/project-scaffold.md — New project bootstrap recipe
• workflows/paper-writing.md — Human-AI collaborative research

What's Inside

Directory	Purpose
rules/	Core behavior rules — drop into .claude/rules/
templates/	File templates for new projects
hooks/	Claude Code hooks (pre-push secret scanning)
settings/	Example Claude Code configuration
workflows/	Human-readable methodology guides
docs/	Philosophy and customization guides

Adapting This Workflow

See docs/customization.md for how to adapt these rules to your own projects. The rules are designed to be modular — use what fits, ignore what doesn't.

Origin

Distilled from real-world usage across:

• Multi-agent AI systems
• Homelab infrastructure (70+ services, 4-node cluster)
• Game server operations and plugin development
• ML model training and evaluation
• Hardware control systems (3D printers, IoT)
• Human-AI collaborative research papers
• Web applications and API servers

Every rule earned its place by preventing a real problem.

License

MIT. Use it, adapt it, share it.