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  • Status: accepted · Date: 2026-07-18 · Deciders: Davor Runje

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Context

ADR-0002 kept honest-scholar scientific-only and delegated engineering to a specific named tool. But naming a specific engineering tool couples the plugin to it and specifies how engineering is performed — exactly what we avoided for experiments (ADR-0013, the experiment-backend contract). honest-scholar should be agnostic to the engineering workflow the same way it is agnostic to the experiment runner, and should not advertise or depend on any particular product.

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Decision drivers

  • Symmetry with the experiment-backend contract; hot-swappable backends.
  • Domain- and tool-neutrality: the plugin should not depend on or advertise a particular engineering tool.
  • Consumers already have their own engineering workflows.

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Considered options

  1. Define an engineering-delegation contract (design / plan / implement), bound per project; name no specific tool.
  2. Keep naming a specific tool as the engineering backend (ADR-0002 as written).
  3. Bring engineering in-scope for honest-scholar.

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Decision

Option 1. Add resources/contracts/engineering.md (three capabilities, bound via .honest-scholar/config.yml engineering_backend:). Remove every explicit engineering-tool mention from the plugin; a consumer binds whatever engineering backend it uses (bound in its own .claude/settings.json / config — the consumer’s choice, not the plugin’s concern). ADR-0002 is refined accordingly (engineering delegated via the contract, tool unnamed).

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Consequences

  • The plugin is fully tool-neutral; skills reference “the bound engineering backend,” not a product.
  • One more contract to keep coherent with the experiment-backend contract.
  • Sweep: hypothesis-testing / paper-synthesis / research-init / templates / README / user guide / specs reworded to the contract.

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Rejected alternatives

  • Name a specific tool — couples the plugin, specifies how engineering is done, and advertises one product.
  • Engineering in-scope — duplicates mature engineering tools; bloats scope; breaks the science-only identity (ADR-0002).
resources/contracts/engineering.md; ADR-0002 (refined), ADR-0013 (the parallel experiment-backend contract).