hashintel/labs/harden

Harden

Deliberately upgrade the project's feedback harness — the commands, gates, and automation that make verification self-enforcing. Introduce lint, formatting, CI, and a canonical verify command intentionally and incrementally.

This resolves the tension between /pragma:skeleton ("no lint/format yet") and /pragma:slice ("run the verification harness").

Input

What to harden: $ARGUMENTS

Preconditions:

• A walking skeleton must exist. If none → /pragma:skeleton first.
• Ideally 1-2 real slices have landed (you want to know what checks actually matter before formalizing).

Procedure

1. Audit the current harness

What commands exist? Are they consistent? Is there a single "everything is green" command? Is there CI? Does CI match local?

2. Define the target verify command

One canonical command to trust:

bun run verify   # or: npm run verify, make verify, etc.

Runs in order: typecheck → lint → format check → unit tests → integration tests → build.

• Must be fast enough for pre-commit (target: < 60s)
• If some checks are slow, split: verify (fast) and verify:full (CI-only)

3. Introduce ONE tool

Pick one improvement per /pragma:harden invocation:

• Formatting: choose one formatter, configure minimally (defaults first), run on whole codebase, add to verify
• Lint: choose one linter, default ruleset, fix existing violations, add to verify
• CI: create config running the verify command, fail on verify failure
• Pre-commit hook (optional): must be fast (< 10s) or it will be bypassed

4. Document the dev loop

Create or update a short section (README or docs/dev-loop.md):

1. How to verify (canonical command)
2. What it checks (ordered list)
3. How to run subsets
4. CI: where it runs, what triggers it

5. Verify and commit

Run the new verify command. If the new tool creates violations, fix them in this commit. Commit: Harden: add [tool/command] to verification harness

Constraints

• One tool at a time. Do not batch formatting + lint + CI in one invocation.
• Local and CI must agree. No "CI-only" checks developers can't run locally.
• Fast by default. Slow checks go in verify:full.
• No speculative rules. Add rules that catch real problems you've seen.
• Minimal configuration. Defaults first. Customize only when a default causes real pain.
• Don't block feature work. Too much friction → back it out and try again later.

Output

1. Tool added: what was introduced and why
2. Verify command: current canonical command and what it runs
3. Violations fixed: what existing code needed cleanup
4. Dev loop doc: where the documentation lives
5. Recommended next harden step: what to add next (if anything)
6. Lifecycle: State: governance, Next: /pragma:consult, Loop: /pragma:consult (default unless user explicitly continues directly)