Agent Wranglers

Engineering playbook

Rules for building any software. Every rule is checked in code, every change is tested the same way, and every deploy can roll itself back.

  • Required 14
  • Recommended 5
  • Optional 1

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated .

An engineering playbook for any kind of software, from websites to APIs and apps. It covers how rules become checks in code, how changes are reviewed, built, tested and shipped, and how software runs in production.

The other playbooks build on it. The website playbook links here instead of repeating these rules.

Chapters

  1. Rules as code

    Turn every rule into a check in code that passes or fails. Then people and AI agents never have to guess whether work is right.

    • Required 3
    • Recommended 1

  2. Build, test and deploy

    Every change is tested and built the same way, shipped in one step, checked for health, and rolled back by itself when something fails.

    • Required 3
    • Recommended 2

  3. Version control and review

    Every change goes through version control in small steps. Automated checks and a second pair of eyes approve it before it reaches the main branch.

    • Required 3
    • Recommended 2

  4. Running in production

    Build the same artifact every time, change the database safely, keep settings outside the code, and know about errors before your users report them.

    • Required 5
    • Optional 1

All 20 rules on one page

For agents: if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in Based on the Agent Wranglers engineering playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering.