Build like a startup. Ship like a professional.
Six values
While building with AI ourselves and with the teams we work with, we have come to value:
The things on the right still matter. We just value the things on the left more.
Eight habits
Values are easy to agree with. Habits are what you actually do on a Tuesday. Each one is small, and each one is something a team can see.
Check before you share
Run an independent check before anyone else depends on the app. Personal tools need nothing more.
Checked in the last 30 daysEvery app has a name and an owner
If it runs, someone answers for it. An app nobody owns is a liability, not a tool.
Owner namedSecrets never live in code
Keys go in a secrets store. A key that was ever in code is leaked: replace it.
No exposed secretsThe agent writes, the scanner judges
Let AI write and fix the code. Let rules that can't be talked round decide whether it's safe.
Re-checked, score held or roseSmall, frequent checks
Like small commits: check often, so every problem is small when you find it.
Two or more checks a monthName the tool that built it
Knowing which AI tool made an app helps IT support it, audit it and fix it with the same tool.
“Built with” recordedWrite down what it does
One honest paragraph: what it's for, what data it touches, who uses it. The next owner will thank you.
Description writtenReach sets the rules
Only you: anything goes. A team: no serious problems. Everyone: clean checks and a review.
No “fix before sharing” problemsThe badge
Every app in an AppLedger ledger shows how many of the eight habits it keeps, measured from its checks, owner, description and the tool it was built with. Not a certificate: a nudge, visible to the whole team.
Adopt it
- Share this page with your team and agree to try the habits for a month.
- Turn them into a one-page policy. Start from our shadow AI app policy.
- Keep score in a free AppLedger ledger, or on a whiteboard. What matters is that it's visible.