Dev Parity Guard Skill

This skill prevents regressions by ensuring the local development environment correctly mirrors the production "save point" and incorporates all critical architectural fixes.

Critical Parity Rules

1. Script Integrity (package.json)

The dev script must ALWAYS support API routes.

•Rule: scripts.dev should be "vercel dev".
•Why: Standard vite server ignores /api directory, leading to 404s/500s on checkout, mail, and image streaming.
•Verification: grep '"dev": "vercel dev"' package.json

2. API Proxying (vite.config.ts)

The frontend must correctly route API calls to the local backend during development.

•Rule: Ensure server.proxy include /api/gallery and /api/photos targeting http://localhost:3001.
•Reason: Local development (port 3000) needs to talk to the local background server (port 3001) for heavy lifting like image processing.

3. Image Delivery Consistency

High-resolution images must be proxied to avoid Google Drive 3rd-party cookie blocks.

•Rule: ALWAYS use /api/gallery/stream?fileId=... instead of direct Drive URLs in src/components/.
•Detection: Check PhotoGallery.tsx and PhotoLightbox.tsx for direct Drive links.

4. Project Root Awareness

Commands must be run from the repository root.

•Rule: Never run npm or git from the user home directory.
•Target Dir: /Users/thelostunfounds/thelostandunfounds

Pre-Flight Checklist (Run Before Every Session)

• Sync Branch: git pull origin main to get the latest "save point".
• Check Port 3000: lsof -ti:3000 (Stop existing rogue servers).
• Validate Env: ./scripts/validate-env.sh --local
• Check Dependencies: npm install if package.json changed.

Automated Verification

Run the parity validation script to check for common regressions:

bash

./scripts/validate-parity.sh

Regression Prevention Workflow

•Commit: Before committing, verify the change works locally with vercel dev.
•Deploy: After deployment, verify production URL.
•Save Point: Immediately sync your local branch with the deployed main branch.