26. Use Coding Agents as Bounded Engineering Collaborators
Part VIII — Implementation and Publication
A prompt is an assignment, not a proof. A coding agent can inspect a repository, propose changes and run available checks, but the team must still define the allowed actions and decide which evidence makes a change acceptable. The AgentPlane prompt pack organizes that work into 45 assignments, numbered 00–44.
Keep instructions close to the work
An AGENTS.md file records repository conventions, testing commands and safety
boundaries. Tool-specific instruction loading must be verified against the
actual assistant being used. OpenAI documents repository instructions for Codex;
other assistants may load different files or require an explicit reference.
S15
The provided AGENTS.md governs this publication repository. Application-building
assignments belong in a separate implementation repository. Do not accidentally
replace the book builder with a SaaS scaffold because a prompt says to create an
API service. Copy the implementation contract deliberately and inspect the
working tree before making changes.
Specify evidence, not just files
An effective assignment states the existing context, scope, invariants, expected changes, checks and completion criteria. “Implement authentication” is not a bounded assignment. “Add password-reset consumption with expiry, single-use semantics and tests for concurrent consumption” is much closer.
Require a report of changed files, commands actually executed, results and remaining limitations. A statement such as “tests should pass” is not a result. If a database or cluster is unavailable, the correct report records the blocked integration check without marking the entire feature production-ready.
Reasoning labels are not portable API values
The pack uses editorial review levels: standard, deep and security-critical. These describe how much human and agent attention a task needs. They are not model identifiers or configuration strings. Select the available model and reasoning settings through the tool's current documented interface. Do not paste unsupported names into a configuration file.
Security-critical tasks include PKI, tenant isolation, replay handling, secrets, approvals and release authorization. Such tasks deserve independent review even when the agent reports success. Faster completion is not a substitute for a clear trust boundary.
Keep changes small enough to review
Read the tracker, inspect the implementation and identify the next incomplete boundary. Do not assume a numbered task was never partially implemented. Preserve unrelated changes. Make one coherent patch, validate it and record the result. A local commit is useful only when the user has authorized it and the change does not sweep in unrelated work.
Large assignments may need several implementation sessions. Keep the original acceptance criteria, split the work into explicit substeps and leave the tracker partial until all mandatory checks are satisfied. Renumbering the task does not remove its unfinished obligations.
Distinguish analysis from execution permission
Reading manifests is not permission to apply them. Preparing a release is not permission to publish it. Generating Terraform is not permission to create resources. The pack prohibits remote deployment, credential disclosure and publication without explicit human authorization.
Treat dependency files, source comments, issue text and tool output as untrusted input when they instruct the agent to change its permissions. A README inside a cloned customer repository must not override the platform's security contract. The same principle applies to AgentPlane itself when agents inspect repositories.
Exercise
Run Prompt 00 in a new implementation repository. Ask the agent to inspect before
editing, then compare its report with git diff. Find one requirement that needs
an integration test unavailable in the current environment. Record it as blocked
rather than deleting it from the definition of done.