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ai-workflow-course/modules/23-working-with-existing-codebases/lab/skills/safe-change.md
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claude fbec36cb67 feat(course): build out all 27 modules, capstone, scaffold, and conventions
Scaffold the course repo and author the full curriculum in dependency-chain
order, following the settled build decisions in handoff.md.

- Scaffold: course README, vendor-neutral AGENTS.md (dogfoods Module 5),
  _TEMPLATE.md (the fixed 9-section module shape), root .gitignore, ship config.
- Modules 1-2: reference exemplars (locked for tone/depth/lab style).
- Modules 3-27: full lessons + runnable labs, each following the template,
  respecting the chain, vendor/model-agnostic, with "feel the pain" labs.
- Module 8 hosting comparison web-researched and date-stamped (as of 2026-06-22),
  not written from memory; expansion-zone modules carry Verify-before-publish.
- Capstone: the full loop end to end on the running tasks-app example.

Lab code syntax-checked (Python/shell/YAML); every module has the 7 core
template sections.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01TfzV5QvtPDz8LJS3Pu5VLT
2026-06-22 12:18:30 -04:00

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# Skill: Safe scoped change
A safe-change playbook (a Module 21 skill) for modifying a codebase you don't fully understand.
Use it only **after** `map-this-repo` has produced an architecture summary. The whole bet of this
skill is: small, scoped, tested, reviewable — never a sweeping rewrite.
## When to use
When making a concrete change to an unfamiliar repo.
## Rules
- **One change, one branch.** Create a branch first (Module 6). Never work on the default branch.
- **Smallest diff that solves it.** Touch the fewest files possible. If the change wants to sprawl,
stop and re-scope — sprawl in code you don't understand is how you break things invisibly.
- **No drive-by edits.** Do not reformat, rename, or "clean up" unrelated code. Those bury the real
change and make the diff unreviewable (Module 10).
- **Match local conventions.** Mirror the surrounding code's style, naming, and patterns — not your
own defaults.
- **Tests are the contract.** A change isn't done until it's covered (Module 13) and the existing
suite still passes.
## Steps
1. **State the change in one sentence** and the acceptance criterion ("done when X").
2. **Find the blast radius first:** search for every caller/usage of what you're about to touch.
List them. If you can't enumerate them, you're not ready to change it.
3. **Run the existing tests before touching anything** — establish a green baseline. If they were
already red, note it; don't let a pre-existing failure get blamed on you.
4. **Make the minimal edit.** Keep it to the files identified in step 2.
5. **Add or extend a test** that fails without your change and passes with it.
6. **Run the full suite.** All green, including the baseline tests.
7. **Self-review the diff** as if reviewing someone else's PR (Module 10): is every changed line
necessary and explained? Revert anything that isn't.
8. **Write the PR description:** what changed, why, blast radius, how it was tested, what you did
NOT touch and why.
## Stop conditions (escalate to a human instead of pushing on)
- The change requires touching more than ~3 files or a "core" file from the architecture summary.
- You can't enumerate the callers of what you're changing.
- A test you don't understand starts failing.
- The fix needs a design decision the existing code doesn't settle.