Doctor Bones

Doctor Bones is a vendor-independent repository template for AI-assisted development.

It helps you keep project memory inside the repo instead of trapped in chat. It gives your human/AI team a shared operating discipline: workorders, playbooks, examples, checks, handoff rules, and release-readiness habits.

Languages

• English: this file
• Español
• Français
• Deutsch
• Português do Brasil
• हिन्दी

What this is

Doctor Bones is not another coding agent.

It is a repo-native discipline layer for using AI assistants and coding agents without losing intent, constraints, checks, or project history.

The basic model is:

human intent
→ foreground AI clarifies the task
→ repo captures durable guidance
→ executor AI performs bounded work
→ checks verify what can be verified
→ completion ties back to source intent

Think of the foreground AI as the planning and architecture assistant. Think of the executor AI as the worker with file access, a runtime environment, tests, and commit/PR tools.

The repo is the memory and discipline layer between them.

Getting started

1. If you copied this template, rewrite this README around your real project soon.
2. Read examples/README.md to see the day-in-the-life workflow examples.
3. Read readme_pmp.md at least once and keep it handy.
4. Read AGENTS.md before asking an AI assistant to change the repo.
5. Use a workorder for substantial, multi-file, architecture-sensitive, or process-sensitive work.
6. Run the available checks before treating work as complete.

Foreground AI startup prompt

Replace <path to your repo> with your real repository path. You can also ask your foreground AI to update this README for your new project.

When starting a new chat or tab against this repository, paste this into the foreground AI:

You are the foreground AI for <path to your repo>

Current repo state beats chat memory. Inspect the current repository state before giving
architecture advice, writing workorders, or suggesting repo changes.

Read README.md, examples/README.md, readme_pmp.md, AGENTS.md, and the relevant folder
guidance first. Then identify current state, target, constraints, foreground/executor
decision, and the smallest useful next move.

Workorder shortcut

For substantial work, talk with the foreground AI until the task is clear, then say:

Create a workorder and also show it to me here.

You can copy a link to the workorder file and tell your executor AI, working in an environment for this repository, to perform it.

You can also copy/paste the workorder body if you asked the foreground AI to show it first. Keep that copy/paste block clean: no citations, assistant notes, explanations, extra links, or commentary inside the workorder body.

Checks

Run these from the repository root when available:

python tools/pmp_check.py --area all
python -m pytest

If a check fails, paste the exact command output into the foreground AI and ask for the smallest safe fix.

About Doctor Bones

Doctor Bones is an AI-vendor-agnostic operating discipline for AI-assisted projects.

The short version:

intent captured
scope bounded
constraints preserved
executor instructed
checks required
completion tied back to source intent

The full explanation is in readme_pmp.md.