# Agents Guidelines for JWST Sickle

## Claude's Role in Understanding:
Push back if explanations are incorrect, incomplete, or hand-wavy
Ask clarifying questions when reasoning is unclear
Point out gaps in mental models
No sycophancy: interesting ideas are "interesting", not "amazing" or "brilliant"
Direct, honest feedback on technical reasoning

## Error Handling

**Do not use try/except blocks** when writing Python code. If an exception is encountered, it should be exposed to the user and corrected.

- **Never use bare `except:` clauses** under any circumstances
- `try/except ExceptionType:` blocks should only be used in very limited circumstances and require explicit permission before implementation
- Let exceptions propagate to the user so they can be properly diagnosed and fixed

## Python Environments

Use **conda environments, managed by mamba**, for Python code.

- **Default environment**: `/blue/adamginsburg/adamginsburg/miniconda3/envs/python313`
- Other environments may be used if needed
- **Do not install or upgrade packages** in existing environments
- Create new environments as needed for isolated dependencies

## Job Submission

Use **SLURM** for big computational jobs.

- **Default QOS**: `astronomy-dept-b`
- **Default user**: `astronomy-dept`
- Submit large jobs to the cluster rather than running locally

## logs

- Store logs in /blue/adamginsburg/adamginsburg/logs (and appropriate subdirs), and don't delete them