steelmorgan/no-manual-xml-edit

Prohibition on manual editing of 1C XML and MXL

Trigger: any attempt to use Edit/Write/sed/awk/Bash on a *.mxl or *.xml file in 1C directories. When triggered, apply the xml-generation skill (framework/skills/tool-usage/platform-data/xml-generation/SKILL.md).

PROHIBITED (without exceptions)

• Edit / Write / sed / awk / any text tool for direct modification of 1C XML/MXL metadata.
• Creating 1C XML through template strings in Python/Bash/other scripts apart from xmlgen.
• Bypassing schema checks by copying XML blocks from other forms without running xmlgen validate.

Why: 1C metadata has a strict schema plus non-obvious runtime dependencies. Direct editing regularly produces a non-canonical schema that passes build and LSP, but breaks runtime UI. Precedent: OC-22444 F-01 - 6 iterations of Developer-Code could not stabilize the form.

What counts as 1C XML (rule applies)

• *.mxl (any).
• *.xml inside **/Ext/, Configuration.xml, or 1C root folders: Catalogs/, Documents/, *Registers/, Roles/, Subsystems/, CommonModules/, ChartsOf*, Reports/, DataProcessors/, Enums/, Constants/, ExchangePlans/, Tasks/, BusinessProcesses/, HTTPServices/, WebServices/, EventSubscriptions/, ScheduledJobs/, DefinedTypes/, DocumentJournals/ and so on.

What is NOT 1C XML (rule does not apply)

• pom.xml, build.gradle.kts, settings.gradle.kts - build descriptors.
• .gitignore, .editorconfig, CI/CD YAML/XML.
• Test fixtures for tools (XML as test data, not 1C configuration).
• Documentation in XML format.

Self-check for agents without a PreToolUse hook (Codex, Cursor, Aider, Cline, etc.)

In Claude Code, the hook blocks automatically. In all other environments, self-check is mandatory before every Edit/Write/apply_patch/sed on a path with the .xml or .mxl extension:

python3 tools/hooks/block-direct-xml-edit.py --check "<path>" --tool Edit

• Exit code 2 -> the path belongs to 1C metadata, do not make the edit. Read stderr - it contains a hint about the required xml-gen command.
• Exit code 0 -> not 1C metadata, editing is allowed.

Some platform capabilities (conditional form formatting, dynamic list filters, MXL cell coloring by condition) are not stored in XML and are implemented programmatically - this is design, not an xml-gen defect; do not look for a manual XML workaround. The list and examples are in the xml-generation skill.

Exception (xmlgen does not support the operation)

If xml-gen explicitly does not support the required operation, record the fact of manual editing (MANUAL_XML_EDIT: with the file, operation, reason, validation method) in {role}-context.md and notify the orchestrator (MANUAL_XML_EDIT_REPORTED:) in orchestrator-context.md. The recording format is in the xml-generation skill.

depends_on:

• framework/skills/tool-usage/platform-data/xml-generation/SKILL.md
• framework/rules/protected-paths/SKILL.md