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@alexeyv alexeyv commented Dec 30, 2025

Summary

  • Fixes unintended consequence where dev agent ignored half of project-context.md
  • Changes wording from "for coding standards only" to "follow its guidance; when conflicts exist, story requirements take precedence"
  • Updates 3 places: 2 in principles, 1 in critical_actions

Fixes #1132

Problem

The original wording (from Nov 23 Phase 4 transformation) was:

"Load project-context.md if available for coding standards only - never let it override story requirements"

This caused agents to preemptively ignore legitimate project-context guidance (architecture patterns, dependencies, conventions) even when it didn't conflict with the story.

Solution

New wording establishes clear hierarchy without limiting scope:

"Load project-context.md if available and follow its guidance - when conflicts exist, story requirements always take precedence"

Tested

Created test scenario with contradicting project-context and story, validated that agent:

  • Reads ALL of project-context.md (doesn't skip sections
  • Correctly identifies conflicts
  • Defers to story requirements on all 4 conflicts
  • Explains reasoning (architect approval, migration context, etc.)

Test plan

  • Schema validation passes
  • Manual test: agent correctly resolves conflicts in favor of story
  • Manual test: agent still reads and applies non-conflicting project-context guidance
  • Tested on multiple LLMs with same prompt - all produce correct behavior
    EOF
    )

@bmadcode bmadcode merged commit 05ddc2d into bmad-code-org:main Jan 3, 2026
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Dev agent instruction silently ignores non-coding-standard rules in project-context.md

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