Add Cursor agent instructions and workflow rules

[northdpole]

Summary

• Add AGENTS.md as the entry point for AI coding agents working in this repo
• Track modular .cursor/rules/*.mdc files (replacing a monolithic .cursorrules approach) so the team shares consistent agent behavior
• Update .gitignore to allow AGENTS.md and .cursor/rules/ while keeping other .cursor/ workspace files ignored

What the rules enforce

Rule	Purpose
requirements-gate.mdc	Stop and ask when goal, success criteria, context, or constraints are missing
complete-ticket.mdc	Same gate for tasks submitted via .md/.txt ticket files
plan-first-workflow.mdc	Plan Mode + approval before non-trivial implementation
multi-agent-workflow.mdc	Two-phase flow for big changes; builder ≠ judge (subagent review)
verifiable-goals.mdc	Non-negotiable make lint, make mypy, make test, CI evidence in handoff
tdd-workflow.mdc	Test-first loop for new behavior and importers
never-assume.mdc	No guessing, no placeholders, minimal scope
autonomous-workflow.mdc	Execute after approval; no unsolicited commits
context-management.mdc	/clear, @ refs, stale-context recovery
production-db-ops-safety.mdc	Destructive prod DB confirmation phrase
alembic-deploy-guardrail.mdc	Pre-deploy migration guardrail

Design notes

• Rules were audited for contradictions (e.g. trivial fixes skip Plan Mode; @ refs only required when context is ambiguous)
• Verification commands map to OpenCRE Makefile targets, not generic tsc/eslint-only checks
• Docs-only change — no application code modified

Test plan

• Confirm AGENTS.md and .cursor/rules/*.mdc are tracked (not gitignored)
• Review rule index in AGENTS.md matches committed rule files
• Open repo in Cursor and verify rules load from .cursor/rules/
• Spot-check agent behavior: missing requirements → clarifying questions; trivial fix → no forced Plan Mode

Made with Cursor

[coderabbitai]

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: f253fe2e-5fa9-4f8e-91be-7e0d3276434f

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between e93ce92 and a226135.

📒 Files selected for processing (13)

• .cursor/rules/alembic-deploy-guardrail.mdc
• .cursor/rules/autonomous-workflow.mdc
• .cursor/rules/complete-ticket.mdc
• .cursor/rules/context-management.mdc
• .cursor/rules/multi-agent-workflow.mdc
• .cursor/rules/never-assume.mdc
• .cursor/rules/plan-first-workflow.mdc
• .cursor/rules/production-db-ops-safety.mdc
• .cursor/rules/requirements-gate.mdc
• .cursor/rules/tdd-workflow.mdc
• .cursor/rules/verifiable-goals.mdc
• .gitignore
• AGENTS.md

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch add/cursor-agent-instructions

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