development-guidelines.md

Development Guidelines

Temporary Files Policy

Rule: Automatic .gitignore Addition

Any temporary files created during development MUST be immediately added to .gitignore

Examples of Temporary Files:

• Migration logs: *-migration.txt, *-migration.log
• Debug files: debug*.txt, debug*.log
• Development notes: dev-notes*.txt, scratch*.txt
• AI assistant outputs: ai-*.txt, copilot-*.txt
• Backup files: *.backup, *.bak, *.orig
• Test files: test*.log, temp-*.txt

Implementation:

1. Before creating: Check if pattern exists in .gitignore
2. After creating: Add specific pattern if not covered
3. Use broad patterns: Cover future scenarios with wildcards
4. Document reasoning: Add comments explaining the pattern

.gitignore Section:

All temporary files should be added to the "Development and Migration Temporary Files" section in .gitignore with descriptive comments.

Examples:

# Branch migration and development logs
branch-migration-log.txt
migration-*.txt
*-migration.log

# AI assistant temporary outputs
copilot-*.txt
assistant-*.log

This ensures clean repositories and prevents accidental commits of temporary development artifacts.