AI Usage Best Practices Plan

Goal

Position as a developer who uses AI thoughtfully—maximizing productivity while avoiding common pitfalls like code duplication and over-reliance.

Current State

• CLAUDE.md with project constraints
• Explicit anti-patterns defined
• CI guardrails for duplication (in progress)

Implementation Roadmap

1. CI Duplication Detection

Problem: AI tends to generate similar code rather than reuse existing abstractions.

Solutions:

• Add jscpd to CI pipeline for copy-paste detection
• Configure thresholds: fail on >5% duplication
• Add custom ESLint rules for project-specific patterns

npm install -D jscpd

3. Pre-commit AI Review Hook

Checks to implement:

• Bundle size delta
• New dependencies added
• Duplicate utility detection
• Naming convention violations

Tool options:

• Husky + custom scripts
• lint-staged with custom functions

4. Scoped Usage Guidelines

Document when AI helps vs hurts:

Task	AI Recommended	Why
Boilerplate (types, tests)	Yes	Repetitive, low risk
State management	No	Requires domain context
Styling/layout	Yes	Follows patterns
Business logic	No	Needs human judgment
Refactoring	Partial	Good for suggestions, review manually
Code review	Yes	Catches patterns linters miss

5. Prompt Library

Create reusable prompts for common tasks:

/prompts
  component-scaffold.md
  test-generation.md
  pr-review.md
  refactor-check.md

Each prompt should include:

• Context requirements
• Expected output format
• Quality checks to apply after

6. AI-Assisted PR Review Checklist

Use AI to check:

• Does this duplicate existing utilities?
• Are naming conventions consistent?
• Could this be simplified?
• Are there abstraction opportunities?

Do NOT use AI to check:

• Business logic correctness
• Security implications
• Performance in production context

Metrics to Track

• Duplication percentage over time
• PR review turnaround
• Bugs introduced in AI-assisted vs manual code
• Bundle size trends

Talking Points for Marketing

1. "I use AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement for judgment"
2. "I've built guardrails that catch AI's common failure modes"
3. "I document when AI helps and when it hurts—that's the skill"
4. "AI is great at patterns, humans are great at context"

Next Actions

1. Set up jscpd in CI
2. Create prompt library folder
3. Document team's scoped usage guidelines
4. Add pre-commit hook for bundle size check