Risk Profiles

Tune how aggressively the system reviews your work

Three profiles, one dial

The system has a single tunable: how much Skeptic overhead to apply.

  • relaxed - move fast, less review. Low-risk overrides are broadened so routine UI work skips Skeptic entirely.
  • default - balanced. Single-file locally-scoped behavioral edits are Low. Everything else stays at standard Elevated thresholds.
  • strict - maximum correctness gates. Changes that would normally be Low become Elevated and trigger a full Skeptic round.
Profiles are not a security dial - they tune review cadence. The underlying risk classification rules still apply; profiles adjust which edge cases get promoted or demoted relative to the baseline.

relaxed

For rapid iteration on well-understood UI or local bug fixes

  • Single-file locally-scoped behavioral edits: Low (no Skeptic)
  • Multi-file pure-UI-only changes: Low (no Skeptic)
  • Everything else: unchanged from default
Use relaxed on feature branches where you're moving fast and the surface area is contained. Switch back to default before merging anything that touches shared infrastructure or behavioral contracts.

default

The starting point for all projects

  • Single-file locally-scoped behavioral edits: Low (no Skeptic)
  • All other legacy Elevated signals remain Elevated
  • Multi-file UI-only changes: Elevated (Skeptic runs)
  • The right choice for most day-to-day work
If you're not sure which profile to use, stay on default. It gives you one meaningful Low override (single-file local edits) without opening the floodgates on review.

strict

For when correctness is paramount - payments, auth, shared infrastructure

  • UI-only copy changes: Elevated (Skeptic runs)
  • File renaming: Elevated (Skeptic runs)
  • Targeted wording fixes to already-reviewed content: Elevated (Skeptic runs)
  • Diagnostic-only logging changes: Low with self-check (not unconditionally direct)
  • Documentation-only file creation (new .md files that are pure lists/notes): Low with self-check (not unconditionally direct)
strict removes the Low-override carve-outs that other profiles rely on. More Skeptic rounds, more latency, higher confidence. Worth it when a mistake costs time or data.

How to set your profile

1. At install time

bash .claude/install.sh --profile=strict

2. Edit agentic-engineering.json directly

{ "mode": "opt-out", "profile": "strict" }

3. Per-project override in root AGENTS.md

agentic-engineering-profile: strict

Start with default. Switch when it fits.

relaxed for fast-moving UI work. strict when a mistake costs time or data.

github.com/Space-Dinosaurs/DinoStack