# AGENTS.md — Build guide for Reform

## Project scope
Publish a clean lead form with a short sequence of questions, validate responses and route accepted leads into a private review inbox.

Catalogue verdict: yes. The core loop is small enough for a capable coding agent to produce a useful local version in one sitting. For Reform, publish a clean branded lead form with routing, notifications, and exports. The hard boundary is polished ux, spam controls, integrations, and reliable hosted delivery, plus integrations, deliverability, and workflow depth.
Use the implementation prompt below to define the deliverable. Complete each phase's acceptance checks before extending the scope.

## Working agreement
- Inspect the repository and its existing instructions before choosing paths, dependencies or commands. Keep one coherent stack and explain changes to the proposed architecture.
- Plan a vertical slice that accepts a real input and produces the useful output described below. Persist only the state the prompt calls for; respect memory-only and upstream-managed workflows. Use fixtures only when they are clearly labelled.
- After scaffolding, document the actual install, development, check and build commands in README and keep them synchronized with the package or project manifest. Do not report commands as successful unless they ran.
- Work in small steps. At handoff, list implemented flows, checks actually performed, remaining blockers, and any credentials or provider setup the owner must supply.
- Do not publish, spend money, contact customers, delete source data or run irreversible migrations without the project owner's authorization.

## Prerequisites
- Runtime and tools: TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation.
- Before starting: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery.

## Stack and architecture
- TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation
- Data design: Store FormVersion, Question, Response, RoutingDecision and Notification; accepted response identity is independent of notification delivery and consent remains a separate field.
- Setup: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery

## Security and data integrity
- Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses.
- Begin with text/choice fields and no payments. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, show retention expectations and keep spam controls from silently discarding valid submissions.
- Keep secrets outside client bundles and exported projects; document what leaves the device and make retention/deletion controls visible.

## Agent implementation rules
- Project rule — domain: Store FormVersion, Question, Response, RoutingDecision and Notification; accepted response identity is independent of notification delivery and consent remains a separate field.
- Project rule — scope and recovery: Begin with text/choice fields and no payments. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, show retention expectations and keep spam controls from silently discarding valid submissions.
- Project rule — acceptance: Submit twice after a timeout and disable the notification provider; save one response, show delivery failure to the owner and still confirm successful intake to the visitor.
- Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.

## Optional agent skills and references
- Recommended skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — review this PostgreSQL domain schema, uniqueness constraints, transaction boundaries and access-scoped queries; Supabase hosting is not required. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
- Recommended skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — review keyboard access, focus, validation, error recovery and the readable work/review interface or HTML report. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.

Read the linked SKILL.md and its dependencies before adding a skill. Select only the skills matching this project's runtime and task; their documentation does not supply API access, credentials or approval to perform external actions. Pin the reviewed revision where the tool supports it. Follow the chosen agent's documented project-level installation mechanism.

## Distribution ideas
These are optional planning notes. Obtain the owner's approval before publishing or contacting anyone.
- Demonstrate this working slice using synthetic or explicitly authorized non-sensitive examples: Publish a clean lead form with a short sequence of questions, validate responses and route accepted leads into a private review inbox.
- Share a synthetic example export and the acceptance walkthrough; keep real customer, health, financial and source data private: Submit twice after a timeout and disable the notification provider; save one response, show delivery failure to the owner and still confirm successful intake to the visitor.
- State the limits before asking someone to replace their existing tool: Begin with text/choice fields and no payments. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, show retention expectations and keep spam controls from silently discarding valid submissions.

## Engineering roadmap
1. Phase 1 — Pin the working slice and create its example input: Publish a clean lead form with a short sequence of questions, validate responses and route accepted leads into a private review inbox. Confirm setup: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery.
2. Phase 2 — Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store FormVersion, Question, Response, RoutingDecision and Notification; accepted response identity is independent of notification delivery and consent remains a separate field.
3. Phase 3 — Connect the working view to real saved state. Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses.
4. Phase 4 — Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Begin with text/choice fields and no payments. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, show retention expectations and keep spam controls from silently discarding valid submissions.
5. Phase 5 — Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Submit twice after a timeout and disable the notification provider; save one response, show delivery failure to the owner and still confirm successful intake to the visitor. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.

## Paid-product capabilities outside this build
- polished UX, spam controls, integrations, and reliable hosted delivery
- advanced branching
- payment and CRM integrations
- large template libraries
- enterprise compliance

## Implementation prompt
Build the following focused alternative to Reform. Implement the focused workflow below first; the verdict is not evidence of a completed or production-certified build.

WORKING SLICE
Publish a clean lead form with a short sequence of questions, validate responses and route accepted leads into a private review inbox.

SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Use TypeScript, React, Node and PostgreSQL with versioned form schemas and server-side validation. Prerequisites: A public HTTPS origin, an administrator account, sample valid/invalid responses and optional verified notification delivery. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success.

DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS
Store FormVersion, Question, Response, RoutingDecision and Notification; accepted response identity is independent of notification delivery and consent remains a separate field.

IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT
Pin submissions to a published schema version. Re-evaluate branching and required fields on the server, rate-limit public intake, and keep notifications in an outbox separate from accepted responses. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content.

APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY
Begin with text/choice fields and no payments. Avoid collecting unnecessary personal data, show retention expectations and keep spam controls from silently discarding valid submissions.

ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO
Submit twice after a timeout and disable the notification provider; save one response, show delivery failure to the owner and still confirm successful intake to the visitor. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested.

DELIVERY
Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product.

PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md
Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.

## Completion evidence
Demonstrate the prompt's acceptance scenarios against the scoped workflow. Include setup from a clean checkout and failure recovery. Check persistence across restart and export/restore only for the state the prompt says to store; for memory-only tools, confirm that temporary content is discarded as specified. Record actual results and remaining limitations. A detailed plan alone does not establish a working replacement.