The Clanker Constitution: Default Operating Principles for Coding Agents

ricklamers · x · 2026-08-11

Developer Wes Mckinn shared the 'Clanker Constitution', a project aimed at providing a versioned set of default operating principles for AI coding agents. The constitution emphasizes that agents should treat explicit user instructions as a contract and act autonomously within safe and reversible boundaries, only asking for permission when a critical decision is missing. These principles can be applied directly to code repositories to guide agents in executing tasks effectively.

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