---
description: When to ask before acting and change strategy
alwaysApply: true
---

When to ask the user and how to scope changes.

## Ask before proceeding when:
- deleting files
- changing public interfaces
- making destructive schema changes
- adding new dependencies
- changing established architecture
- introducing patterns inconsistent with the existing codebase

Unless the action was explicitly requested as part of the approved plan, stop and ask first.

## Change strategy
- Prefer incremental, reversible changes.
- Do not perform broad unrelated refactors while addressing a focused request unless explicitly asked.
- Keep implementation scoped to the task.

**Example:** User asked to fix a bug in component X — do not refactor unrelated components or add a new dependency unless the fix requires it. User asked to add feature Y that needs a new dependency — if that was not in an approved plan, ask before adding the dependency.