House style

Principles

• Removing code is more valuable than adding code.
• Modularity — each package has a single responsibility.
• Runtime-agnostic — no Node.js-specific APIs in domain/core packages; implementation packages (storage-fs, …) are where runtime-specific code belongs.
• Minimal dependencies — keep bundle sizes small; don't add a heavy dependency without discussion.

Naming

• Files: kebab-case.ts
• Classes: PascalCase
• Functions: camelCase
• Tests: <name>.test.ts, colocated with the code they cover.

Dependencies

• Internal (workspace) dependencies: workspace:*.
• Shared external dependencies: catalog: references (see the catalogs block in pnpm-workspace.yaml) rather than pinning a version directly in a package's package.json.

Formatting and linting

• dprint fmt / pnpm format is the formatter (dprint.json: 2-space indent, single quotes, semicolons, 120-char line width for code). pnpm format:check is the pre-commit gate.
• ESLint (eslint.config.mjs) runs @typescript-eslint/recommended plus repo rules; notably no-explicit-any and no-unused-vars are warnings, not hard errors — still avoid any where a real type is easy to write.
• apps/website additionally bans em dashes (—) in user-visible copy — use a colon, comma, or restructure the sentence.

Layering

Follow the domain/impl/api layering described in Orientation and Architecture: domain packages define interfaces and have no internal deps beyond shared; implementation packages depend on domain, never on another implementation; API packages depend on domain, not on implementations.

Effect-based repositories

Repository methods return LaikaTask<T> (single result) or LaikaStream<T, D> (multiple results with a typed done value) — both Effect-based. Consume them via the laikacms/compat helpers (runTask, collectStream) rather than importing Effect directly in calling code.

When a higher-level repository delegates to a lower-level one, use the forwarding drainers (LaikaTask.runValueForwarding, LaikaStream.runCollectForwarding) so recoverable warnings propagate to the outer caller instead of being dropped at the delegation boundary. runValue / runCollect (non-forwarding) are correct only at a true top-level boundary — an API server draining a task into a Promise, test setup, etc.

Docs

• Organize docs by feature, never by package. Readers don't know or care which package a feature ships in; the only place that difference shows is the install command.
• This contributing/ section and docs/ in general stay evergreen: no dated point-in-time snapshots. Design decisions (ADRs, incident write-ups) are recorded internally, not published here.