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+# AGENTS.md
+
+Operational guide for `@askrjs/orm`, which owns explicit SQL-shaped access for
+PostgreSQL and SQLite.
+
+## Askr North Star
+
+Keep the path from declared database and query through adapter execution to
+typed result narratable. Enforce schema, placeholder, transaction, connection,
+and generated-contract invariants with specific corrective errors. Test each
+primitive's failure, rollback, concurrency, and cleanup paths against real
+adapters where relevant. Preserve the seam between SQL declarations, generated
+metadata, and dialect adapters. Prefer explicit queries and transactions over
+inferred relations or hidden persistence behavior. Do not add ORM convenience
+surface without a demonstrated application need.
+
+Run `npm run check` before declaring a change ready; it includes coverage,
+types, packaging, and benchmarks. Run real PostgreSQL and SQLite integration
+lanes for adapter-sensitive changes.
+
+## Optimization Gate
+
+A benchmark number is only half of an optimization's success criterion. The
+change must also preserve a causal path that a human or agent can narrate in one
+sentence.
+
+Every benchmark-driven change must include:
+
+1. the one-sentence causal description of the optimized path;
+2. the exact fallback trigger and proof that optimized and fallback paths have
+   identical observable behavior and error surfaces;
+3. an explicit legibility-cost statement, including `none` when no new path or
+   concept is introduced; and
+4. evidence that a measured bottleneck in a real application justifies the
+   optimization now.
+
+Prefer making the existing single path faster. New caches, inference,
+memoization, shortcuts, fast paths, or scheduler states require an explicit
+legibility decision; a speedup alone does not justify them.