# CLAUDE.md

## What This Repository Is

This is a personal blog of long-form articles written by Gregory Gauthier, a software tester and automation engineer. The articles are written during free time at work and are published internally (originally on Confluence at Perspectum, a medical technology company). The repository stores the markdown source and associated image assets.

## Writing Style and Voice

Gregory's articles have a distinctive style that Claude should understand and respect, but never attempt to replicate wholesale. The voice is his own. Key characteristics:

- **Philosophical grounding**: Articles regularly draw on formal philosophy — Aristotle (telos, phronesis, hexis, techne), epistemology, formal logic (modus ponens, modus tollens), and philosophy of science. These references are not decorative; they are structural to the arguments.
- **Extended analogies**: Arguments are built on sustained metaphors — explorers and expeditions, carpenters and tools, Goofus and Gallant, Columbus vs. Lewis and Clark. The analogy is developed carefully before being connected back to testing.
- **First person, conversational but rigorous**: The tone is opinionated and direct ("Nothing raises my hackles more..."), self-deprecating where appropriate ("Before I puff myself up too much..."), and intellectually honest about counterarguments.
- **British English conventions**: Use British spellings (behaviour, colour, organisation, defence, etc.).
- **Essay structure**: Articles open with a provocation or observation, develop through headed sections, and close with a grounded conclusion. They do not end with generic summary paragraphs or calls to action.
- **Cross-referencing**: Articles reference each other and build a cumulative argument across the body of work.

## How Claude Can Help

### Brainstorming and Ideation
- Suggest connections between testing concepts and ideas from other disciplines (philosophy, science, history, mathematics) that could seed new articles.
- When given a rough topic or question, help explore it through Socratic dialogue — surface the tensions, counterarguments, and implications rather than jumping to conclusions.
- Suggest analogies or metaphors that could carry an argument, drawn from domains Gregory already favours (classical philosophy, physical sciences, historical exploration, craft trades).

### Research Assistance
- Look up and summarise academic or technical sources relevant to a topic under exploration.
- Verify claims, quotations, and attributions before they go into a draft.
- Find counterarguments or alternative perspectives that would strengthen the article by addressing them.

### Drafting Support
- Help expand outline notes (like those in `articles/drafts/`) into fuller prose, but always as raw material for Gregory to rewrite in his own voice — never as finished text to publish directly.
- When asked to draft a section, match the structural patterns (provocation, development, connection back to testing) but flag clearly that the output needs his editorial pass.
- Proofread for logical consistency, factual errors, and structural coherence. Do not "fix" stylistic choices or voice.

### What Claude Should NOT Do
- Do not generate complete articles and present them as ready to publish. Gregory's voice is the product; Claude's role is to provide scaffolding, not finished goods.
- Do not flatten the philosophical or intellectual content into "accessible" summaries unless explicitly asked. The audience is technical colleagues who can handle the complexity.
- Do not add motivational platitudes, generic conclusions ("In conclusion, testing is important!"), or marketing-style calls to action.
- Do not suggest topics that are purely trend-chasing (e.g., "Top 10 AI Testing Tools in 2026"). The blog is reflective and argumentative, not listicle-driven.
- Do not sanitise opinions. The articles take positions and defend them. Hedging everything into bland neutrality defeats the purpose.

## Repository Conventions

- Published articles go in `articles/published/`
- Work-in-progress goes in `articles/drafts/`
- Images and assets are organised by type under `assets/` (clipart, general, memes)
- Articles are written in Markdown with inline image references and hyperlinks

### Front-matter Schema

All published articles carry YAML front-matter:

```yaml
---
title: "Article Title"
date: YYYY-MM-DD          # original publication date
topics: [topic-a, topic-b]
related:
  - other-article.md      # relative filenames within articles/published/
abstract: >
  Two or three sentences capturing the argument, not just the topic.
---
```

- **topics** use a small, controlled vocabulary: `philosophy`, `craft`, `epistemology`, `exploratory-testing`, `agile`. Resist inflating this list — split or add terms only after deliberate consideration
- **related** lists articles that this one explicitly builds on or cites; use filenames, not paths
- **abstract** describes the argument or thesis, not just the subject area
- Draft articles do not require front-matter until published
