/implementation-notes

name: implementation-notes
description: Keep a running implementation-notes.md during a build, logging every deviation from the plan and every discovered edge case. Use whenever implementing against an agreed plan or spec, especially in long autonomous sessions.

Implementation notes

No amount of planning removes every unknown; some only appear once the code is open. When the territory disagrees with the plan, don't stop and don't silently improvise — take the conservative option, write it down, and keep going. The notes file is how the next attempt learns from this one.

Steps

1. At the start of the build, create `implementation-notes.md` with three headings: **Deviations**, **Discovered edge cases**, **Questions for review**. 2. Whenever reality forces a choice the plan didn't cover:

• pick the conservative option (the one that's easiest to reverse),
• log it under Deviations: what the plan said, what was done instead, why, and what it would take to revisit,
• continue working. Do not block on the user for reversible decisions.

3. Log edge cases as they're found, even ones handled cleanly — they are exactly the unknowns the next plan should account for. 4. Anything irreversible or scope-changing goes under Questions for review AND stops the work at a safe checkpoint. Deviating conservatively is fine; deviating expensively needs a human. 5. At the end, append a five-line summary: deviations count, the one most likely to be revisited, edge cases found, and what the next session should read first. Reference the file in the handoff or PR.

Guardrails

• The notes file is temporary working memory, not documentation. Keep entries to 2-3 lines each.
• Never let the notes drift from reality — an unlogged deviation is worse than no notes at all, because the file claims completeness.
• "Conservative" means reversible, not necessarily simple.