https://github.com/sniperwolf/surgical-dev
Surgical Dev: engineering standards for Gemini CLI. Enforce surgical precision, senior pragmatism (KISS), and goal-driven execution to eliminate AI over-engineering and drive-by refactoring.
https://github.com/sniperwolf/surgical-dev
gemini-cli-extension
Last synced: 3 months ago
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Surgical Dev: engineering standards for Gemini CLI. Enforce surgical precision, senior pragmatism (KISS), and goal-driven execution to eliminate AI over-engineering and drive-by refactoring.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/sniperwolf/surgical-dev
- Owner: sniperwolf
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-04-14T20:40:10.000Z (3 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-04-15T12:20:17.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-03T01:44:55.613Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: gemini-cli-extension
- Homepage:
- Size: 130 KB
- Stars: 1
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
surgical-dev
surgical-level precision. surgical-level pragmatism. Zero-bloat engineering.
The Problem •
Features •
Workflow •
Install
---
A Gemini CLI extension that transforms the model into a **disciplined, surgical engineer.**
Inspired by *[Andrej Karpathy's observations](https://x.com/karpathy/status/2015883857489522876)* on LLM coding pitfalls, **surgical-dev** enforces a strict behavioral layer that prioritizes minimal diffs, existing style preservation, and goal-driven verification.
AI coding agents are sometime **"too helpful"**: they refactor unrelated code, add speculative abstractions, and fix bugs without reproduction.
## The Problem
### 🗣️ "Too Helpful" AI
> "I've fixed the bug in `auth.ts`. I also took the liberty of updating the deprecated API calls in three adjacent functions, reformatted the whole file from single to double quotes for consistency, and added a new `ConfigManager` class in case you want to add more providers later."
### 🔪 surgical-dev (Disciplined)
> "Fixed the bug in `auth.ts`. Changed 2 lines only. Verified with new test case."
**Minimal diffs. Zero noise. Maximum impact.**
## Operational Features
| Feature | What it do | Trigger |
|--------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| **Dense Context** | High-density rules in `GEMINI.md` for minimal token overhead. | Automatic |
| **Audit Command** | Reviews your plan/diff for over-engineering or scope creep. | `/surgical:audit` |
| **Reviewer Agent** | Delegate strict code reviews to a surgical specialist sub-agent. | `gemini delegate surgical-reviewer` |
| **Surgical Skill** | Deep "behavioral reset" for complex tasks. (≈500 tokens) | `Activate surgical-standards` |
## How to Use
Follow this workflow to maintain surgical-level discipline in every session.
### 1. Strategy Audit (`/surgical:audit`)
**When:** After the model proposes a plan, but before you say "Go."
**Why:** Forces the model to review its own proposal for **Scope Creep** (refactoring a whole file for a 1-line fix) and **Speculative Bloat** (adding abstractions you didn't ask for).
### 2. Surgical Reviewer (`gemini delegate surgical-reviewer`)
**When:** You've finished a task and want to ensure no "noise" leaked into the diff.
**Why:** This sub-agent has zero tolerance for non-surgical edits. It will flag quote changes, unnecessary classes, and missing verification steps in its own lean context.
### 3. Behavioral Reset (`Activate surgical-standards`)
**When:** The model is "looping," getting confused, or producing overly complex code.
**Why:** Loads the full, detailed standards as an "emergency brake" to return the model to a pragmatic, surgical mindset.
### 4. Continuous Enforcement (`GEMINI.md`)
**When:** Every single turn.
**Why:** Provides a background constraint, reminding the model to reproduce bugs before fixing them and remove orphans (imports/vars) instantly.
## Installation
One command. Direct from GitHub.
```bash
gemini extensions install https://github.com/sniperwolf/surgical-dev
```
### Local Development (Optional)
```bash
gemini extensions link YOUR_PATH_TO/surgical-dev
```
---
**License**
MIT © 2026 Fabrizio Fallico ([me@fabriziofallico.com](mailto:me@fabriziofallico.com))