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Agent Rules

Agents must treat MantisBT as the live work system.

Before starting work:

  • read the target version
  • read the parent issue
  • read open child issues
  • confirm the selected issue is ready

During work:

  • move the issue to in_progress
  • add notes for decisions, validation, and changed assumptions
  • create child issues when the work breaks into separate steps
  • move unclear work to needs_info
  • move externally blocked work to blocked

Before review:

  • run the smallest meaningful validation
  • add validation notes
  • update docs or add a no-docs-needed note
  • attach work to the intended target version when relevant

Agents should not hide task state in local planning files when that state belongs in Mantis.

Documentation Work

When work changes process, architecture, setup, behavior, or user-facing usage, the agent should update the handbook or add a clear no-docs-needed note to the Mantis issue.

The intended long-term shape is:

  • MantisBT MCP manages issues, phases, parent tasks, child tasks, versions, notes, and status transitions.
  • MkDocs MCP manages handbook pages, searches docs, edits Markdown, validates links, and runs build checks.
  • The agent links Mantis issues to documentation changes before moving work to done.