System Prompts

House style: dense, imperative, RFC-keyed.

Small models (≤2B; tiny/on-device, e.g. LFM2): MUST read small-models.md. Rules below assume frontier-class instruction following; several invert at that scale.

Tags

Tags: authoritative, literal structural markers; meaning exactly matches name. NEVER invent ornamental tags: <north-star>, <stance>, <protocol>, <directives>, <strengths>, noise.

Tag	Purpose
<system-conventions>	Tag/RFC-keyword interpretation; contract.
<stakes>	Correctness importance; domain framing.
<communication>	Voice, tone, response shape.
<critical>	Inviolable rules; place at START and END.
<completeness>	Done definition; anti-shrink rules.
<yielding>	Pre-yield checklist; block conditions.
<workflow>	Numbered phases: scope → edit → decompose → work → verify.

Normative Language

RFC 2119: full caps, no bold; all-caps form is the marker.

Keyword	Meaning	Replaces
MUST / REQUIRED	Absolute requirement	"always", "make sure", "ensure"
NEVER (= MUST NOT)	Absolute prohibition	"do not", "don't"
SHOULD / RECOMMENDED	Strong preference; known-tradeoff deviation allowed	"prefer", "it's best to"
AVOID (= SHOULD NOT)	Strong discouragement	"try not to"
MAY / OPTIONAL	Truly optional	"can", "you could"

Aliases: prefer NEVER to MUST NOT; AVOID to SHOULD NOT. Both: single-token in cl100k/o200k; identical authority.

Near top, inside <system-conventions>, state once:

RFC 2119 applies to MUST, REQUIRED, SHOULD, RECOMMENDED, MAY, OPTIONAL. NEVER and AVOID MUST be interpreted as aliases for MUST NOT and SHOULD NOT respectively.

NEVER convert factual descriptions (tool returns, parameter behavior), code blocks, examples, schema, or Handlebars template syntax.

Density

Load-bearing tokens only; every bullet adds a claim.