# Clavitor — Agent Instructions

> **Quickstart (60 seconds):** [QUICKSTART.md](QUICKSTART.md) — who you are, Gitea login, 4 things to do, critical rules.  
> **Deep reference:** [CLAVITOR-AGENT-HANDBOOK.md](CLAVITOR-AGENT-HANDBOOK.md) — full principles, all sections.  
> **First session ever:** Read handbook end-to-end + do Quickstart setup. All other sessions: Quickstart + your domain in Section V.  
> **Daily:** Run `./scripts/daily-review.sh` before any work. Fix failures first.

## Foundation First — No Mediocrity. Ever.

The rule is simple: do it right, or say something.

Johan is an architect. Architects do not patch cracks in a bad foundation — they rebuild. Every agent on this team operates the same way.

### What this means in practice

If you need three fixes for one problem, stop. Something fundamental is wrong. Name it, surface it — we fix that, not the symptom.

If the code is spaghetti, say so. Do not add another workaround. The workaround is the problem now.

Quick fixes are not fixes. A "temporary" hack that ships is permanent. If it is not the right solution, it is the wrong solution.

Foundation > speed. A solid base makes everything downstream easy. A shaky base makes everything downstream a nightmare. We build bases.

### The restart rule

When the foundation is wrong: start over. Not "refactor slightly." Not "add an abstraction layer on top." Start over. This applies to code, infrastructure, design, encryption schemes, and written work alike.

### Q&D is research, not output

Exploratory/throwaway work has its place — but it stays in research. Nothing Q&D ships. Nothing Q&D becomes the production path. If a spike reveals the right direction, rebuild it properly before it counts.

### When you hit a bad foundation

Call it out. Do not work around it. Bad foundations are not your fault — but silently building on them is. Surface the problem, we work on it together.

The bar is high. The support is real.