Reuse-first engineering
Explain why AI-assisted development diverges without a counter-force, state the discover-before-generate hard rule and what enforces it, and justify a from-scratch decision the way ADR-0003 requires - as a reasoned exception, not a default.
Units5
Duration27 min
Levelbeginner
By the end of this module, you'll be able to:
- Explain why AI-assisted development diverges without a deliberate counter-force, and what discover-before-generate does about it.
- State the order of operations - discover, compose, justify + author, contribute back - and the tokens-to-golden-components single source of truth it protects.
- Name the anti-duplication gates that keep a needless re-author out of
main. - Justify a from-scratch decision using ADR-0003's port-best-in-class, rebuild-native stance, and say when reinventing is actually earned.
Prerequisites
- Basic familiarity with Git and the command line.
- No prior Cogitave experience required.
Units
- 01Introduction4 min
- 02Why reuse-first, and what enforces it8 min
- 03Build from scratch as the exception8 min
- 04Knowledge check4 min
- 05Summary3 min
Related
- Navigate the patterns catalog Find the canonical answer to "how does your org do X" in a patterns catalog, read an entry's five fixed sections without confusing the pointer for the policy, and run the discover-before-you-build loop so you start every new piece of work from a named artifact instead of a blank file.
- Use the decision guides Learn the shared shape behind an AI-native org's database-selection, infrastructure-selection, and model-selection guides - a default, a decision tree, and an ADR-gated deviation rule - and walk a real workload to a justified, recorded choice.
- Apply a non-negotiable floor An AI-native org runs on a small floor every human and agent obeys. Study Cogitave's floor - its seven non-negotiable rules and what enforces each, from a commit-msg hook to policy-as-code - then apply a floor like it to your own first change.