The Cleric
The process will save us.
The Cleric believes that if the pipeline is green, the code is good. They automate everything — tests, reviews, deployments — and trust the automation more than the judgment it was supposed to support. When the automation approves slop, the Cleric approves it too.
- Symptom
- Green builds shipping things nobody understands, AI-generated tests verifying AI-generated code, and a quiet erosion of human judgment from the review loop.
- Why it matters
- Automation that grades AI output using AI output is a closed loop with no anchor. Slop in, green check out. The Cleric is how that loop gets blessed.
- What the chapter gives you
- Where to keep humans in the loop on purpose, which automated checks actually catch slop, and how to use AI in CI without letting CI bless it.
Anti-Patterns
- Doomsday Archivist
- Faithful Automator
- Ritualist of Redundancy
Artifacts
- Eternal Backup Bolt
- Idol of Eternal Standups
- Medallion of Unquestioning Trust
Spells
- Bless the Pipeline
- Eternal Seal of Preservation
- Resurrection of Deprecated Process
- Sanctuary of Green Dashboards
- Summon Recurring Meeting
From Volume 1 of The AI Developer's Field Guide
Read the full chapter in The AI Developer's Field Guide.
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