# AGENTS.md

Rules for AI coding assistants working in this repository.

- **dora >= 1.0.** Verified against `dora-cli 1.0.1`, which CI pins in
  `.gitea/workflows/validate.yml`.
- **`uv` for everything:** `uv sync --group dev`, `uv run pytest`,
  `uv run ruff check .`, `uv run python ...`. Never `pip` into the ambient
  environment.
- **`ruff` is the linter and the formatter.** `uv run ruff check .` must be clean.
- **Markdown is linted too**, by `markdownlint-cli2` in CI. Its line length is set in
  `.markdownlint.json`.
- **numpy-style docstrings.**
- **Dependencies must ship prebuilt wheels for linux-x86_64, linux-aarch64 and
  macos-arm64.** `uv sync` is the whole install: no system packages, no compiler.
- **Nothing outside `dora_joy/gamepad.py` may touch pygame.** Everything else sees a
  plain `Sample`, which is what lets it be tested with no pad plugged in.
- **Nothing is shaped on the way out.** No deadzone, no expo, no clamping, no rescaling
  of a trigger. Raw SDL or nothing: what a reading *means* belongs to whatever acts on
  it, and two places shaping one number is a bug nobody can see.
- **Do not teach this node what a control is for.** No `GRASP_BUTTON` variable, no
  semantic output ports. This is a source; it names no consumer.
- **Publish on every tick, changed or not.** The stream doubles as a heartbeat, so
  silence means the node died and nothing else. Do not add publish-on-change.
- **`present` is never inferred from zeroed axes.** An absent pad is not a centred pad,
  and a consumer driving something that moves needs the difference.
- **The Arrow schema is declared, never inferred.** pyarrow reads an empty `axes` list as
  `list<null>`, so an inferred schema would change type the moment a pad is unplugged.
- **Do not commit or push.** Leave changes in the working tree and wait to be asked.
- **Do not mention AI tools in commit messages or documentation.**