---
id: "framework-kiss-commands"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["00:20:04"]
tags: ["ai-agents", "system-design"]
related: ["concept-agent-context-scoping", "concept-prompt-caching", "concept-silent-tax"]
sources: ["s45-claude-limit-chatgpt-habit"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s45-claude-limit-chatgpt-habit"
originDay: 45
---
# KISS Commands for Agent Architecture

## Purpose
The **Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) Commandments** are the developer-facing analogue of [[framework-clean-conversation]]. Where Clean Conversation governs human chat hygiene, KISS governs **agent and API architecture** to prevent burning hundreds of millions of tokens through lazy design.

## The Five Commandments
1. **Index References.** Do not pass raw documents into the agent. Use retrieval (vector search, BM25, structured indices) to scope what the model actually sees.
2. **Pre-process Context.** Summarize, chunk, and normalize data *before* it hits the agent's context window. Markdown conversion ([[concept-markdown-conversion]]) is the document-level case.
3. **Cache Stable Context.** System prompts, personas, tool schemas, static reference docs — all should use API-level [[concept-prompt-caching]] for the ~90% discount validated in [[claim-caching-discount]].
4. **Scope Minimum Context.** Give each agent only the slice of information required for its task. A planning agent should not see raw source code; an editing agent should not see the project roadmap. See [[concept-agent-context-scoping]].
5. **Measure Token Burn.** Instrument every agent call. Track input/output tokens and cost ratios per call to surface inefficiencies. See [[action-measure-context]] and [[entity-claude-code-d45]]'s `/context` command.

## Why These Five
Each commandment maps directly to one of the core failure modes:
- (1, 2) → defeat raw-doc tokenization
- (3) → defeat the [[concept-silent-tax]]
- (4) → defeat unscoped agent context ([[contrarian-more-context-is-worse]])
- (5) → make the burn visible so it can be managed

## Place in the Vault
KISS is the **architectural** discipline. [[framework-clean-conversation]] is the **workflow** discipline. [[framework-stupid-button-audit]] is the **diagnostic** discipline. Together they cover the full lifecycle of avoiding [[concept-token-burning]].