litestar-styleguide

This is the shared style baseline that every other skill in this plugin references. It exists so that cross-cutting rules (PEP 604 unions, async I/O, ruff + mypy + pyright, test file naming, CI/CD conventions) live in exactly one place — and individual skills stay focused on their framework or tool-specific surface.

What's in here

Each reference covers one slice of the code-style baseline. A sibling skill links to only the files relevant to its language / framework mix.

• references/general.md — Cross-language principles (simplicity over cleverness, error handling, naming, DRY-when-it-pays)
• references/python.md — Python conventions (PEP 604 unions, docstrings, imports, ruff / mypy / pyright configuration)
• references/litestar.md — Litestar-specific baseline (guards, DTOs, DI, plugin use)
• references/typescript.md — TypeScript conventions (when paired with a frontend skill)
• references/testing.md — Testing conventions (pytest, vitest, fixtures, coverage)
• references/ci-cd.md — CI/CD conventions (GitHub Actions, matrix builds, caching)

How sibling skills consume this

Every SKILL.md in this plugin has a ## Shared Styleguide Baseline section near the bottom. That section links to a subset of these references — only the ones that apply to the skill's language / framework mix. For example:

• skills/litestar/SKILL.md links to general.md + python.md + litestar.md
• skills/litestar-vite/SKILL.md links to general.md + typescript.md + litestar.md
• skills/litestar-testing/SKILL.md links to general.md + testing.md + python.md + litestar.md

The sibling skill extends the baseline with its own tool-specific Code Style Rules, Quick Reference, Guardrails, and Validation — but it does not duplicate the baseline. If a convention is generic (type hints, naming, imports), it belongs here.

When to update this skill

• A rule becomes contentious across two or more sibling skills → pull it into the right baseline reference file here.
• A new language lands (Rust, Mojo, etc.) → add a new references/<lang>.md and link from skills that use it.
• A tool is swapped out (e.g., ruff replaces flake8 + black) → update python.md once; all sibling skills inherit it.

Authoring rule for this skill

• Keep references terse, imperative, authoritative. No hedging ("you might want to…"). State the preferred choice and the one-line reason.
• Every "never do X" rule has a one-line why (perf, runtime introspection, OpenAPI alignment, etc.). No folklore.
• Examples are copy-pasteable and minimal. No pseudo-code.

<workflow>

Workflow — consuming this baseline

1. Open the sibling skill you are editing (skills/<name>/SKILL.md).
2. Look at its ## Shared Styleguide Baseline section — it already lists a subset of the references here.
3. When adding a rule to the sibling, ask: is it generic (language/tooling) or framework-specific? Generic → land it in the right file under references/ here. Specific → keep it in the sibling.
4. Cross-link bidirectionally if a rule here is amplified in the sibling.

</workflow> <guardrails>

Guardrails

• No duplication across skills. A rule lives in exactly one file; sibling skills link to it.
• No folklore. Every rule has a one-line justification (perf, runtime introspection, OpenAPI alignment, etc.). Delete rules you cannot justify.
• Terse and imperative. Bullets are ≤ 2 sentences. If a topic needs more, split it into its own reference file.
• Examples are minimal and copy-pasteable. No pseudo-code; no multi-hundred-line fixtures.

</guardrails> <validation>

Validation Checkpoint

• Every sibling skill's ## Shared Styleguide Baseline section resolves to files that exist under references/
• No rule is duplicated between two reference files (check via grep when editing)
• Each "never do X" rule has a one-line Reason: explanation
• New language support lands as a single new references/<lang>.md — not scattered into sibling skills

</validation> <example>

Example — adding a new rule

A reviewer finds that two sibling skills independently wrote "use ruff format not black". Instead of leaving duplicates, pull the rule into references/python.md:

- **Use `ruff format`, never `black`.** Reason: ruff is the single toolchain for
  lint + format; running two formatters produces style drift.

Then in each sibling's SKILL.md, replace the duplicate with a pointer:

## Shared Styleguide Baseline

- [Python](../litestar-styleguide/references/python.md)

</example>

Official References

• https://peps.python.org/pep-0604/ — PEP 604 union syntax
• https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/ — ruff linter / formatter
• https://microsoft.github.io/pyright/ — pyright type checker
• https://docs.pytest.org/ — pytest