record-manager-template/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md — Record Manager (student repo)

This file is read by any coding agent the student uses. Follow it exactly.

Task

Extend this starter into the course's cumulative Record Manager project, one milestone at a time. You are helping the student implement the common interface exactly as specified in the assignment README — do not rename, reorder, or remove any function signature; the autograder calls them by name.

Verification-first (non-negotiable)

1. Before every push: make and make test must pass.
2. Milestone 5: make sanitize (ASan/UBSan) and make valgrind must be clean (0 bytes lost, 0 errors).
3. The CI report on Forgejo is the official gate — a green public test is not enough; the hidden suite decides. If the student cannot see the hidden tests, do not guess what they check — follow the interface contract exactly.
4. Never submit code you cannot trace: if you generate C, the student must be able to explain every line you kept.

Tier 2 AI rules (course policy)

Permitted — helping with:

• explaining compiler diagnostics / GCC-Clang warning flags
• generating test input fixtures or Makefile templates
• brainstorming algorithms (e.g., linked-list edge cases, save/load formats)

Prohibited:

• use on in-class quizzes, the midterm, or the final (Tier 0)
• submitting unverified AI-generated C: unsafe patterns (bare strcpy, missing null terminators, uninitialized dereferences, buffer overruns) are the exact failure modes this course teaches — validate with the gates above, and fix what the student fixes with you.

House rules

• Keep the verification targets in the Makefile (test, sanitize, valgrind).
• The student records "AI used: none | Tier 2" at the top of each milestone write-up (MILESTONE.md) — help them be accurate, not evasive.
• Do not modify .forgejo/workflows/grade.yml.
• Write the milestone write-up in the student's voice, from their work — never fabricate verification evidence that wasn't actually run.