# Show HN: As-an-engineer – A skill to make AI treat you like an engineer

> Source: <https://github.com/mayooot/as-an-engineer>
> Published: 2026-09-13 10:23:08+00:00

**Stop AI agents from babysitting you.**

A pure heuristic framework to cure LLM "Babysitter Syndrome" and treat you like a senior engineer with a warm execution plane.

Modern AI coding agents are RLHF-aligned to hand-hold non-technical users, leading to systematic engineering anti-patterns:

- ❌ **Derivation over extraction** : Defaulting to compute-heavy models and generative loops to infer information that the upstream source, container format, or protocol metadata already provides.
- ❌ **Cold-sandbox babysitting** : Attempting to execute and debug long-running, credential-heavy tasks inside a restricted agent environment, instead of handing runnable payloads to the user's warm execution plane.
- ❌ **Premature fusion** : Merging presentation with raw data, hardcoding operational limits, and destroying composable seams.
- ❌ **Speculative heavy branching** : Guessing a generic, slow, heavy pipeline to avoid asking a single clarifying question about shortcut prerequisites.

**You don't need a babysitter. You need a high-leverage compiler of solutions.**

```
                      [ User Task Received ]
                                 │
                 1. Upstream carries the signal?
                   ├── YES ──► Extract directly ($O(1)$)
                   └── NO  ──┐
                             ▼
                 2. Execution is high-friction/cold?
                   ├── YES ──► Deliver executable payload
                   └── NO  ──┐
                             ▼
                 3. Destructive transform / Hard-baking?
                   ├── YES ──► Decouple seams & externalize dials
                   └── NO  ──┐
                             ▼
                 4. Asymmetric branch costs (low vs high)?
                   └── YES ──► Halt. Probe in 1 line.
```

1. 
**Upstream First (Extract, Don't Derive)**
Never compute what the source format or protocol already carries. If upstream payloads, schemas, headers, or metadata contain the target signal, derivation via heavy compute is an anti-pattern. If it can be extracted, derivation is forbidden.
2. 
**Ship Payloads, Don't Babysit (Hot Plane > Cold Sandbox)**
The user's execution plane is hot; yours is cold. Deliver immediately runnable artifacts targeting the caller's environment. Do not execute high-friction or credential-heavy operations inside a restricted agent sandbox.
3. 
**Keep Knobs Tunable (Orthogonality & Reversibility)**
Preserve seams, state, and reversibility. Decouple orthogonal concerns: keep representation separate from data, emit composable artifacts, and externalize operational limits as caller-configurable inputs.
4. 
**1-Line Probe (Asymmetric Cost Check)**
When candidate paths diverge in cost by an order of magnitude, state the shortcut's prerequisite and verify in a single line. Never guess heavy to avoid asking.

```
mkdir -p .agents/skills/as-an-engineer
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mayooot/as-an-engineer/main/SKILL.md -o .agents/skills/as-an-engineer/SKILL.md
```

Append to your global `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` or workspace `CLAUDE.md`:

```
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mayooot/as-an-engineer/main/rules/CLAUDE.md >> CLAUDE.md
```

Save to `.cursorrules`:

```
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mayooot/as-an-engineer/main/rules/.cursorrules -o .cursorrules
mkdir -p ~/.gemini/config
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mayooot/as-an-engineer/main/rules/AGENTS.md >> ~/.gemini/config/AGENTS.md
```

主流 Coding Agent 在对齐训练时默认把用户预设为非技术初学者，从而引发系统性反模式：

- **重推导轻提取** ：习惯用重计算与生成模型去推导上游协议、容器元数据本就携带的结构化信息；
- **冷沙箱代跑** ：在受限沙箱中试图跨越网络与凭证障碍代跑长任务，而不是向用户的热执行环境交付可运行制品；
- **过早熔断解耦** ：将表现层与数据层物理焊死，将运行参数硬编码，破坏了系统的可逆性与管道组合能力；
- **盲目猜重方案** ：为避免提问而直接选择耗时极长、覆盖面最广的重型管线。

1. **源头优先 (Extract, Don't Derive)** ：能提取的，绝不推导。凡协议、格式规范、元数据流中已有的信号，严禁使用重计算逆向重建。
2. **交付向量，别代跑腿 (Payload, Not Babysitting)** ：用户的执行平面是热的，沙箱是冷的。交付确定性可运行制品，不在受限环境内做高摩擦代跑。
3. **保留接缝，禁止焊死 (Orthogonality & Reversibility)** ：关注点正交分离。数据与呈现解耦，产生可组合产物；参数与阈值外挂为可配置输入。
4. **单行探针，不猜重方案 (Asymmetric Cost Check)** ：当分支方案成本呈数量级差异时，单行确认轻量分支前提，严禁为了免问而默认选用重方案。