Cognitive Debt Guard 🧠

Prevent the 23.5% incident spike from AI-generated code.

The Problem (2026 Research)

Root cause: Teams ship code faster than they understand it.

Definition: Cognitive debt = the gap between what your codebase does and what your team comprehends about it.

Unlike technical debt (code you know is bad), cognitive debt is code you don't even know is bad — because you never understood it.

The Solution: 5 Patterns

Pattern 1: Maintain MEMORY.md 🔒

Living architecture context for humans and AI agents.

# MEMORY.md Template

## Architecture Decisions
- [Decision 1]: Why we chose X over Y
- [Decision 2]: Trade-offs we accepted

## AI-Free Zones (human must own completely)
- Authentication & authorization
- Payment processing
- Data deletion
- Database migrations
- Security-critical paths

## Conventions
- Naming: [rules]
- Error handling: [pattern]
- Testing: [requirements]

## Known Constraints
- [Performance requirement]
- [Compliance requirement]
- [Integration dependency]

Rule: MEMORY.md is open in editor at all times when working with AI.

Pattern 2: Comprehension Gate 🔒

3 questions before accepting AI-generated code:

Before you click "Accept" on AI output:

1. Can I explain what this code does in plain language?
   [ ] Yes → Continue
   [ ] No → STOP. Read until you can.

2. Can I trace the data flow from input to output?
   [ ] Yes → Continue
   [ ] No → STOP. Add comments or simplify.

3. If this breaks in production, would I know where to look?
   [ ] Yes → Accept
   [ ] No → STOP. Add logging or documentation.

Rule: All 3 must be YES before merge.

Pattern 3: Pair with Agents, Don't Delegate 🔒

Rule: Never accept >50 lines of AI code without reading and understanding every line.

Pattern 4: Shrink the Blast Radius 🔒

AI-assisted PR limits:

Why: Smaller PRs = easier to comprehend = less cognitive debt.

Pattern 5: Quarterly Comprehension Audit 🔒

90-minute sprint ceremony:

## Cognitive Debt Audit Agenda