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ChannelForge Principles

Software is a craft.

ChannelForge exists to build trust through engineering excellence.

Our Mission

Build the world's most reliable, maintainable, secure, and understandable television lineup compiler.

Not the biggest.

Not the fastest.

The one people trust.

Our Motto

One source. Many outputs. Zero guesswork.

Our Vision

Providers change.

Applications change.

Technologies change.

ChannelForge owns the source of truth and produces reliable outputs for whatever platforms the future requires.

Our Values

Clarity over cleverness

Code should be obvious.

Future maintainers should understand the code without solving puzzles.

If clever code reduces readability, we choose readability.

Maintainability over speed

The fastest code to write is rarely the cheapest to maintain.

We optimize for years, not hours.

Security by design

Security is not a feature.

It is part of every feature.

Every input is validated.

Every output is intentional.

Every modification is recoverable.

Safety first

Production data is valuable.

Before modifying production:

  • Backup first.

  • Verify.

  • Make the change.

  • Verify again.

  • Create a post-operation backup.

Recovery must always be possible.

Trust is earned

Users trust software that:

  • behaves predictably

  • explains itself

  • documents itself

  • protects their data

  • fails safely

We build software worthy of that trust.

Documentation is a feature

A feature is not complete until someone unfamiliar with the project can understand it.

Documentation should assume no prior knowledge.

Every major feature explains:

  • What it does.

  • Why it exists.

  • How to use it.

  • What success looks like.

  • How to recover if something fails.

Comments explain intent

Comments do not repeat code.

Comments explain decisions.

Future maintainers should understand why something exists.

Tests protect the future

Every bug becomes a regression test.

Every feature receives tests.

Every release earns confidence through automation.

Continuous improvement

Every commit should leave the project better than it was.

Reduce duplication.

Clarify documentation.

Improve comments.

Strengthen tests.

Simplify architecture.

Small improvements become excellence over time.

Engineering Laws

  1. Safety First

  2. Never Trust Input

  3. Every Bug Gets a Test

  4. CI Must Be Green

  5. Security Before Convenience

  6. Documentation Is Code

  7. Explain Everything

  8. Reproducibility Matters

  9. Backward Compatibility Matters

  10. The User Comes First

  11. No Mystery Code

  12. Leave It Better Than You Found It

No law may be violated without documenting why.

Definition of Done

The authoritative definition of done is in CONSTITUTION.md.

Definition of Excellence

Code is not finished when it works.

Code is finished when:

  • It is understandable.

  • It is documented.

  • It is tested.

  • It is secure.

  • It is maintainable.

  • It is reviewed.

  • It can be confidently changed years later.

Legacy

Technology changes.

Good engineering does not.

Years from now, someone should be able to study this repository and immediately recognize that it was built deliberately, carefully, and with pride.

That is the standard we hold ourselves to.