GARDEN: six principles for agent-first codebases
The new GARDEN section is about a change in the primary reader of a codebase. Classic principles such as SOLID, DRY, and layered architecture were tuned for a human working in an IDE: someone who has built an accumulated mental map, recognizes familiar patterns at a glance, and can ask a colleague when that map runs out.
In an agent-first codebase, LLM agents write, review, and analyze the code while humans set intent, constraints, and approvals. Humans still own the important decisions, but they rarely inspect every line. That changes the mechanics that architecture must support.
