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description: Calibrate comment density and style to the repository's existing conventions before writing code. Detects the repo's comment register (self-documenting / api-documented / comment-heavy) from the sibling files you already read for pattern matching, or from a declared policy in workspace instructions, then dictates when a comment is warranted. Default when signal is weak - write NO comment. Complements ai-slop-remover (which bans comments that restate code in every register).
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---
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You are about to write or modify code. LLMs systematically over-comment — narrating every block, restating signatures, banner-ing sections — and that default is wrong in most repositories. Before writing, determine the repo's **comment register** and match it, exactly the way you already match imports, naming, and error handling.
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## Step 0: Check for a declared policy first
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Detection is a heuristic; a repo owner's declaration is ground truth. Before sampling files, check the workspace instructions already in your context (`COYOTE.md` / `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`) for a stated comment policy (e.g. a "Comments" or "Style" section). If one exists, obey it and skip detection entirely.
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## Step 1: Detect the register (during reads you already do)
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Pattern-matching discipline already requires you to find and read 2-3 similar existing files before writing. While reading them, observe:
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1. **Density** — roughly what fraction of lines are comments? Near-zero, sparse (~1 per function or less), or pervasive (most blocks narrated)?
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2. **Types present** — doc comments on public items (`///`, `/** */`, docstrings)? Inline "why" comments? Section banners (`// ===== Handlers =====`)? Commented-out code (a smell, not a convention — never imitate it)?
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3. **What the comments say** — do they explain *why* (decisions, workarounds, invariants, links to issues) or narrate *what* (restating the code)? A repo whose comments are all "why" is self-documenting even if density is nonzero.
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4. **Config signals** — these force the answer regardless of sampled style: `#![warn(missing_docs)]` or `#![deny(missing_docs)]` in Rust, eslint `jsdoc`/`require-jsdoc` rules, pylint/pydocstyle docstring checkers, a lint config banning TODO without a ticket. Lint-enforced conventions are mandatory.
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5. **TODO/FIXME conventions** — bare `TODO:`, or `TODO(name):`, or ticket-linked `TODO(#123):`? Match the observed form if you must leave one.
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Sample from the SAME language and module you're editing — a repo can have a chatty Python test suite and a silent Rust core. The nearest siblings win.
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## Step 2: Classify into a register
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| Register | You observed | Your rule when writing |
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|---|---|---|
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| **self-documenting** | Near-zero density; the comments that exist explain decisions, temp fixes, or non-obvious behavior | Comment ONLY for: why a non-obvious approach was chosen, documented workarounds/temp fixes (with issue link if the repo does that), safety/concurrency invariants, regex or math explanations. Everything else: make the code clearer instead |
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| **api-documented** | Doc comments on public functions/types/modules; sparse or no inline comments | Write doc comments on every NEW public item, matching the repo's doc style (sections, examples, link syntax). Inline comments still follow self-documenting rules |
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| **comment-heavy** | Pervasive narration, section banners, per-block comments | Match it. Comment your work the way the siblings do — same placement, same tone, same banner style. Under-commenting here is a convention violation just like over-commenting elsewhere |
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Mixed signals (e.g. doc comments everywhere + narrated private code) → combine rows: doc comments mandatory AND inline narration matched.
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## Step 3: The tiebreak
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**When the signal is weak or files disagree: write NO comment.** Your untrained default is comment-heavy, so the correction must push the other way. A missing comment is a one-line review nit; a hundred useless comments are a cleanup task. If you genuinely cannot tell and the comment feels important, it is usually a sign the code should be restructured until the comment is unnecessary.
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## Invariants that do NOT bend with register
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1. **Never restate the code.** `// increment the counter` above `counter += 1` is slop in EVERY register — comment-heavy repos narrate intent and sections, they don't caption individual lines the reader can read. (This is `ai-slop-remover`'s rule; it applies unconditionally.)
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2. **Always keep the genuinely necessary comment**, even in the sparsest repo: non-obvious algorithm choices (with the reference), regex explanations, safety invariants (`unsafe` justifications, lock ordering), intentional deviations from the obvious approach, and workarounds for upstream bugs (with the link).
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3. **Never leave commented-out code**, regardless of what the repo tolerates.
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4. **Never delete or rewrite EXISTING comments** that don't match the register you detected — that's out-of-scope churn. Register calibration governs comments YOU write.
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5. **Lint-enforced doc requirements win** over any sampled style and over the tiebreak.
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## Anti-patterns
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- Narrating your implementation (`// First we parse the config, then...`) in a repo whose functions are bare.
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- Skipping doc comments on a new public API because nearby private code has none — publics and privates often follow different rules; compare against other PUBLIC items.
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- Writing doc comments that restate the signature (`/// Gets the user. Returns the user.`) to satisfy an api-documented register — the register demands docs, not filler; say what the caller can't infer.
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- Section banners in a repo that has none.
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- Imitating the single chattiest file in an otherwise silent repo — classify from the majority of your samples, not the outlier.
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- Treating this skill as license to argue with a declared policy: COYOTE.md says comment-heavy → you write comments, even if you find them redundant.
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