GYM

GROW YOUR MUSCLES

Software ships with a test/ folder. You run the tests. They prove the software works.

That is fine. That is weak.

GYM is the other folder. It does not prove the software works. It proves YOU can wield it.

A test exercises the code. A GYM exercises the operator.

Every rep you do in a GYM grows a muscle: the reflex, the instinct, the second-nature grip on the tool. By the time you walk out, the software is no longer foreign. It is part of your body.

This is the interaction face of software. The place where a user or an agent does reps until the tool is meat on their bones.

TESTS vs GYM

• TESTS ask: does the code do the right thing?
• GYM asks: can YOU do the right thing with it?
• Tests are read by CI. GYM is run by the operator.
• A green test means the software shipped. A finished GYM means YOU shipped.

MANDATORY TUTORIALS, BUT REAL

You know a game that forces you through a tutorial before it lets you play? That tutorial is a GYM. It is not there to test the game. It is there to grow the player until the controls are reflex.

GYM is that, for every piece of software.

Before an agent is allowed to drive miki and control kimi, it completes the miki GYM. No shortcuts. Grow first, then operate.

TWO PHASES

A GYM is not one thing. It is a pipeline that forges the operator before they touch the real work.

PHASE 1 — WARMUP. Reps that grow the reflexes to use the software. You do them under the runner's eye. Finish the board or stay on the bench.

PHASE 2 — EXERCISES. Real tasks. The runner hands you a brief and walks off. You build it by yourself, with the tools, in your own workspace. No hand holding. When you are done you submit. Then the machine grades you.

EVALUATION

When you submit, automated tests run against what you built. Not against the software — against YOUR work. The tests decide if the muscle is real or fake.

This is the inverse of a test suite. A test suite protects the code from you. GYM tests protect the real task from an operator who is not ready.

THE GATE

Pass the exercises and the gate opens. You are cleared to do the actual task.

Fail and you are out. No negotiation. The real work only gets operators who proved they can wield the tool.

Warmup grows the muscle. Exercises prove it under load. The gate only lets the proven through.

DROP CARD

The gate is strict, but strict is not blind. A mis-fire at the gym is not a mistake to punish — it is a signal to keep. If at any point an outcome is not what you expected, STOP and drop a card:

I did X, expecting Y and Z happened, SO I DROPPED.

The card lands in two redundant places by default: drops/DROP-<agent>-<date>.md and a GitHub issue. The mis-fire might be a bug in you, a bug in the software, or a discovery nobody saw coming. You do not decide which while you are mid-rep. You drop it, and the system grows from the miss instead of burying it.

The drop.mjs helper and the full concept live at github.com/arrrrny/drop-card.

THE SHAPE OF A REP (WARMUP)

A rep is aCheck with a check. Not a check on the code — a check on YOU.

id       - the rep number
name     - what it is called
muscle   - what it grows
brief    - what you must do
verify   - proof you actually did it

If verify passes, the muscle is grown. If not, you stay on the bench.

THE SHAPE OF AN EXERCISE (GRADED)

An exercise is a brief plus an evaluator. The evaluator is the automated test that grades your submission.

id        - the exercise number
name      - what it is called
muscle    - what it proves under load
brief     - what to build, and the rules
evaluate  - (workspace) => { pass, notes }  runs against what you left

You submit by leaving a .submitted marker in your workspace. The runner then runs evaluate() on that workspace. Pass all exercises and the gate opens.

RUN IT

node gym.mjs                      runs warmup reps + graded exercises
GYM_EXERCISES=skip node gym.mjs  warmup only
GYM_TIMEOUT=20 node gym.mjs      cap the exercise wait at 20s

PHASE 1 loads every verify-bearing file in gym/ and grows the muscle or sends you back to the bench. PHASE 2 loads every evaluate-bearing file in exercises/, hands you the brief and the gym/.sandbox/, and waits for your .submitted marker. When it appears, the runner grades your work. Board full and exercises passed — the gate opens.

WHY THIS EXISTS

Processes over products. Principles over popularity. We do not ship software and hope the operator figures it out. We forge the operator first.

A tool nobody can wield is a statue. GYM turns statues into hands.

WTF or nothing.