Preface

The "Gang of Four" gave object-oriented programming a shared vocabulary: "Observer", "Strategy", "Factory". For example, you tell a colleague: "A Strategy fits here." You don't need to explain how it works: your colleague already knows that solution.

Techniques for working with coding agents also recur from project to project. This book is a catalog of them. With it, you can name a solution, understand how it works, and compare its pros and cons with the alternatives.

The author did not invent most of the solutions but gathered them from Anthropic's engineering guides, community practices, skill packs, articles, and talks. You will find links to the primary sources in the chapters. The author also adds findings and ideas from his own practice to the catalog.

The book is living and open: new patterns are added and existing ones are refined. If you want to propose a new pattern or extend an existing chapter with your own experience, read CONTRIBUTING.