add-best-practice

Add Best Practice

Add a new best practice rule to the correct best-practices document. Ensures no duplicates, assigns stable IDs, and follows the exact format of existing entries.

Step 1: Verify Working Directory

This skill runs from the brave-core (src/brave) directory. Best practices docs are at ./docs/best-practices/ and the index is at ./docs/best_practices.md.

Set DOCS_DIR="./docs/best-practices".

Step 2: Understand the Best Practice

Parse the argument to understand:

1. What the best practice is about (the rule, guideline, or pattern)
2. Why it matters (correctness, performance, readability, security, etc.)
3. Category it falls under (C++ coding, testing, architecture, build system, frontend, etc.)

If the argument is a GitHub PR comment URL, gather full context before proceeding:

1. Fetch the review comment text via gh api

2. Fetch the PR diff around the commented file/line to understand the actual code being discussed:

   # Get the comment details
   gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/comments/<comment_id> \
     --jq '{body, path, line, diff_hunk}'
    
   # Get surrounding context from the actual source file
   # Read the file at the path mentioned in the comment

3. Read the actual source file at the commented line to understand the full context — the diff_hunk alone is often insufficient

4. If the comment is part of a thread, fetch the entire thread to understand the full discussion

CRITICAL: Do NOT rely solely on the comment text. Review comments are often brief and assume the reader can see the code. You MUST read the actual code being reviewed to understand what the reviewer is flagging and why. Misunderstanding the code context leads to incorrect best practices.

If the description is vague even after gathering context, ask the user to clarify before proceeding.

Step 3: Check for Duplicates

Search ALL existing best-practice documents for rules that already cover this topic:

1. Read the index file docs/best_practices.md to understand document categories
2. Use Grep to search across all docs in $DOCS_DIR/*.md for keywords related to the new practice
3. Read any potentially matching sections in full to determine if they cover the same ground

If a duplicate or near-duplicate is found:

• Tell the user: "Not added — this is already covered by [Rule Title] in <document>.md (ID: <ID>)."
• If the existing rule is close but could be improved/updated with the new information, offer to update it instead
• Stop here unless the user wants to proceed

Step 4: Choose the Target Document

Discover the available documents and their categories dynamically:

python3 ./.claude/skills/review/discover-bp-docs.py ./docs/best-practices/ --list-categories

This outputs JSON listing each document and its category (e.g., cpp, test, build, frontend, always). Use the category and document name to determine the best match for the new practice. Read the top of candidate documents if needed to confirm the fit.

If it doesn't fit any existing document AND the topic seems like it would attract multiple related practices, create a new category document:

1. Choose a descriptive filename (e.g., performance.md, security-practices.md)
2. Add a prefix mapping to script/manage-bp-ids.py in the DOC_PREFIXES dict
3. Add an entry in docs/best_practices.md index under the appropriate section
4. Create the new doc with a # Title header and cross-reference comment

If it doesn't fit but is a one-off, find the closest existing document and add it there.

Step 5: Draft the Best Practice Entry

Write the entry following the exact format used in existing docs. Read a few entries from the target document first to match its style.

Required format:

<a id="PLACEHOLDER"></a>
 
## ✅ Rule Title Here
 
**Bold principle statement explaining the rule.**
 
```language
// ❌ WRONG - brief explanation
<bad code example>
 
// ✅ CORRECT - brief explanation
<good code example>
```

Additional context, edge cases, or explanation if needed.

 
**Key formatting rules:**
- Use `✅` for positive practices ("Do this"), `❌` for anti-patterns ("Don't do this")
- Start with a bold principle statement
- Include WRONG and CORRECT code examples when applicable
- Use `---` horizontal rule after each entry
- Use `##` for top-level practices, `###` for sub-practices within a group
- Write `PLACEHOLDER` for the ID — the script will assign the real ID
- Keep the entry concise and actionable
 
**Show the drafted entry to the user and ask for approval before writing it.**
 
---
 
## Step 5.5: Review Subagent Validation
 
**CRITICAL: Before showing the draft to the user, launch a review subagent to
validate the entry.** This catches misunderstandings of the source material that
led to incorrect best practices in the past.
 
Launch an Agent with the following prompt structure:
 
```
You are reviewing a drafted best practice entry for accuracy. Your job is to
verify the draft correctly captures the issue from the source material.
 
SOURCE CONTEXT:
- Review comment: <the original review comment text>
- File: <path to the file being reviewed>
- Code context: <the diff_hunk and/or actual source code around the comment>
- Thread context: <any additional thread replies>
 
DRAFTED BEST PRACTICE:
<the full drafted entry>
 
VALIDATION CHECKLIST:
1. Does the draft accurately describe the problem shown in the code?
2. Are the code examples (WRONG/CORRECT) consistent with what the reviewer
   flagged?
3. Is the "why" explanation technically correct?
4. Could the draft be misinterpreted or applied incorrectly?
5. Does the draft introduce any claims not supported by the source material?
 
Return one of:
- PASS: <brief confirmation of accuracy>
- FAIL: <specific explanation of what's wrong and what the correct
  interpretation should be>
```
 
**If the subagent returns FAIL:**
- Revise the draft based on the subagent's feedback
- Re-run the subagent on the revised draft
- Repeat until PASS or ask the user for clarification
 
**If the subagent returns PASS:**
- Proceed to show the draft to the user
 
---
 
## Step 6: Add the Entry to the Document
 
1. Read the target document to find the right location for the new entry
2. **Entries must be ordered by ID** — since the new entry gets the next
   available ID (highest + 1), always append it at the end of the document
3. Make sure there's a `---` separator between entries
 
---
 
## Step 7: Assign the Stable ID
 
Determine the next available ID manually by finding the highest existing ID for the target document's prefix and incrementing by 1. Replace the `PLACEHOLDER` anchor with the new ID (e.g., `CS-042`).
 
- Never reuse old IDs or fill gaps — always increment from the highest existing number
- Do NOT use `manage-bp-ids.py --assign` for this step (it doesn't handle `PLACEHOLDER` anchors correctly)
 
---
 
## Step 8: Validate
 
Run validation to confirm the ID was assigned correctly and there are no duplicates:
 
```bash
python3 ./script/manage-bp-ids.py --validate

If validation fails, fix the issue before proceeding.

Step 9: Format Markdown

All created or modified docs MUST be formatted with pnpm run format before being committed — unformatted docs fail CI's presubmit step. ALWAYS git add any new (untracked) docs BEFORE calling pnpm run format — the formatter silently skips untracked files, so missing this step means the new doc ships unformatted and CI will reject it.

Step 10: Commit and Offer to Branch + PR

After successfully adding the best practice, commit all changes as a single atomic commit on the current branch. Use --amend to fold the ID assignment and any related edits into one commit (do NOT create separate commits for the entry and the ID assignment — they are one logical unit).

Then ask the user:

"The best practice has been added to <document>.md with ID <ID> and committed. Would you like me to create a branch and open a PR?"

If the user wants a PR:

Report the PR URL if created.

Important Guidelines

• No Claude Code attribution — do NOT include Co-Authored-By, Generated with Claude Code, or any other attribution in commits or PRs

• Always format with pnpm run format — never hand-format markdown or use another formatter. New (untracked) documents must be git added first, or the formatter will skip them silently

• Never reuse old IDs — the manage-bp-ids.py --assign script handles this automatically by incrementing from the highest existing number

• Never manually pick IDs — always let the script assign them

• Never fill gaps in ID sequences — gaps are intentional (deleted practices)

• Always check for duplicates first — adding redundant rules wastes everyone's time

• Match the style of the target document exactly — read existing entries before writing

• Keep entries concise — best practices should be scannable, not essays

• Include code examples whenever possible — show don't tell