name: pr-creation
description: Guidelines for creating high-quality Freenet pull requests. This skill should be used when creating PRs for freenet-core, freenet-stdlib, or related repositories. Emphasizes quality over speed, thorough testing, and proper review process.
license: LGPL-3.0

Freenet Pull Request Quality Standards

Core Philosophy

Our goal is high-quality code that won't require future fixes. Don't cut corners, be a perfectionist, don't increase tech debt. A quick fix that causes problems later wastes more time than doing it right the first time.

Before Creating the PR

Sync with Latest Main from GitHub

CRITICAL: Always ensure you're working from the latest main branch from GitHub, not a stale local copy:

cd ~/code/freenet/freenet-core/main
git fetch origin
git log --oneline -1 origin/main  # Check what's latest on GitHub
git pull origin main              # Update local main
git log --oneline -1              # Verify you have the latest

This prevents:
- Working on outdated code that's already been fixed
- Merge conflicts when the PR is ready
- Basing work on code that's already been superseded

Create a Worktree

Never work directly in the main worktree. Create a dedicated worktree for your branch:

cd ~/code/freenet/freenet-core/main
git worktree add ../fix-<issue-number> -b fix-<issue-number>
cd ../fix-<issue-number>

Verify Your Environment

# CRITICAL: Verify you're in a worktree, not the main directory
pwd  # Should be .../freenet-core/<branch-name>, NOT .../freenet-core/main
git branch --show-current  # Should be your feature branch

Run Local Checks

cargo fmt
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features
cargo test

Fix all warnings and errors before pushing.

E2E Testing

For changes affecting network behavior, contract operations, or peer communication:
- Use freenet-simulated-network-test for automated Docker-based testing (6-peer CI infrastructure)
- Use freenet-manual-multipeer-test for real machine testing across nova/vega/technic

PR Title and Description

Title Format

PR titles must follow Conventional Commits - CI fails non-conforming titles:
- feat: - New feature
- fix: - Bug fix
- docs: - Documentation only
- refactor: - Code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
- test: - Adding or correcting tests
- chore: - Maintenance tasks

Description Requirements

Explain WHY, not just WHAT. Structure your PR description:

## Problem
[What's broken? What's the user impact? Why does it matter?]

## Approach
[Why this solution over alternatives? What's the key insight?]

## Testing
[New tests added and what scenarios they validate]
[Local validation steps performed]
[E2E testing results if applicable]

## Fixes
Closes #XXXX

Bad: "Add observed_addr field to ConnectRequest"
Good: "The joiner can't know its public address until observed externally. Previous approach rewrote addresses at transport boundary, but that's a hack. This lets the gateway fill in the observed socket naturally since it already sees the real UDP source."

Test Quality Standards

A Bug That Made It Past CI Is Also a Bug in CI

When fixing a bug, always ask: "Why didn't CI catch this?"

Investigate which test layer should have caught it:
- Unit tests for logic errors
- Integration tests for component interactions
- Network simulations for distributed behavior
- E2E tests for real-world scenarios

Document the gap in your PR description.

Regression Tests Must Reproduce the Bug

1. Write the test before the fix
2. Verify the test fails without your fix
3. Verify the test passes with your fix

This ensures the test actually catches the bug, not just the happy path.

Make Tests General

When improving tests, make the new test as general as possible while still catching the specific problem found. A test that catches a class of bugs is better than one that only catches the exact scenario you hit.

Search for Similar Bugs

If a pattern caused a bug, search for similar patterns elsewhere in the codebase. Fix them all, or file separate issues for each.

Review Process

Code Simplification (Before Reviews)

Before running review agents, use the code-simplifier subagent to clean up and simplify the code:

Task tool with subagent_type="code-simplifier":

"Simplify PR #<NUMBER> (branch-name) at /path/to/worktree

Modified files:
- [list modified files]"

The code-simplifier agent will remove redundancy, simplify verbose patterns, clean up tests, and fix incidental issues while preserving functionality.

Commit any simplifications before running reviews - this ensures reviewers see the cleanest version of the code.

Parallel Subagent Reviews

Once the PR is complete, code is simplified, and CI is passing, spawn four review agents in parallel using the Task tool. Each agent has its own definition file with detailed instructions.

Spawn all four in parallel using Task tool:

1. Task tool with subagent_type="code-first-reviewer":
   "Review PR #<NUMBER> in freenet/freenet-core"

2. Task tool with subagent_type="testing-reviewer":
   "Review test coverage for PR #<NUMBER> in freenet/freenet-core"

3. Task tool with subagent_type="skeptical-reviewer":
   "Do a skeptical review of PR #<NUMBER> in freenet/freenet-core"

4. Task tool with subagent_type="big-picture-reviewer":
   "Do a big-picture review of PR #<NUMBER> in freenet/freenet-core"

Review Focus Summary

The big-picture review is especially important - it catches cases where agents fix symptoms to make tests pass while losing sight of the actual goal.

Handling Review Feedback

Take all feedback seriously. Freenet is complex code and we need to be perfectionists. Don't cherrypick easy wins and ignore harder issues. For each point raised:
- Fix it, OR
- Explain specifically why it's not applicable (with real justification, not convenience)

The bar for ignoring feedback is HIGH. Only dismiss a suggestion if it would dramatically increase complexity (like doubling the size of an already large PR). If a suggestion would improve the PR and can reasonably be done, do it.

Use common sense - if a reviewer suggests building a massive test framework for a small change, that's obviously overkill. But don't dismiss feedback just because it's inconvenient or would require more work.

Never ignore tests to make them pass. Pre-commit hooks will reject #[ignore]. Flaky tests are broken tests - fix the root cause, don't hide the symptom.

Never remove existing tests or fix code. If tests are failing, understand why and fix the underlying issue. Removing tests that catch bugs is how regressions happen.

Waiting for CI

CI typically takes ~20 minutes (as of Dec 2025). Use:

gh pr checks <PR-NUMBER> --watch

Or sleep and then check:

sleep 900  # 15 minutes, then check status
gh pr checks <PR-NUMBER>

Responding to Reviews

1. Fix all issues found during review before requesting re-review
2. Respond to inline comments inline - Don't just fix silently
3. If you disagree, explain your reasoning rather than ignoring the comment
4. After fixing, leave brief replies like "Fixed" or "Addressed in [commit SHA]"
5. Re-request review only after substantial changes - Don't re-ping reviewers for minor tweaks; only request re-review when you've addressed significant feedback or made meaningful changes

PR Scope

Keep PRs Focused

• One logical change per PR
• If a fix reveals other issues, file separate issues rather than scope-creeping
• If the PR grows too large, consider splitting it (but avoid complex stacked PRs)

Don't Cut Corners

• Don't weaken tests to make them pass
• Don't add #[ignore] - fix the test or don't merge
• Don't leave TODO comments for things you could fix now
• Don't skip edge cases because "they probably won't happen"

Attribution

End all GitHub content (PR descriptions, comments, issues) with:

[AI-assisted - Claude]

Checklist Before Merging

• [ ] PR title follows Conventional Commits format
• [ ] PR description explains WHY, not just WHAT
• [ ] All local checks pass (fmt, clippy, test)
• [ ] E2E tested if applicable (network/contract changes)
• [ ] Regression test added that fails without fix
• [ ] Answered "why didn't CI catch this?" and documented gap
• [ ] CI passing
• [ ] Four parallel subagent reviews completed (code-first, testing, skeptical, big-picture)
• [ ] All review feedback addressed (fixed or explained why not applicable)
• [ ] All human review feedback addressed
• [ ] Responses posted to review comments

After PR Merges

Clean up your worktree to free disk space (each worktree has its own target/ directory):

cd ~/code/freenet/freenet-core/main
git worktree remove ../fix-<issue-number>
git branch -d fix-<issue-number>  # Delete local branch