# YAGNI (/academy/yagni)



YAGNI means You Aren't Gonna Need It.

Ship what is in the room tonight. The imaginary cathedral waits.

The trap is familiar. You sat down to ship a todo list. Then the voice starts: five languages, an admin panel, a plugin system, a second [database](/academy/database) "for later." None of that is the demo. Each extra feature is luggage for a trip you are not taking — you maintain it, you debug it, you explain it to the next [agent](/academy/agent) [session](/academy/session).

**Saturday has a timer**

Hackathons are YAGNI with a clock. The [builder](/builder) and the [CLI](/academy/cli) exist so you do not invent a platform before you have a button. Pick a [stack](/academy/stack). Stamp it. Ship a URL. If the third user needs the abstraction, [refactor](/academy/refactoring) then.

This is not permission to be sloppy. Skip the fantasy features. Do not skip [git](/academy/git), do not skip the one [test](/academy/test) for the path that can humiliate you, do not skip [deploy](/academy/deploy) until 4 p.m. YAGNI is about *what*. [KISS](/academy/kiss) is about *how*.

**Agents over-deliver**

Ask for email sign-in and a model will gift you OAuth, magic links, and an admin panel. It feels generous. It is four extra bags. Prompt it: "Build the smallest thing that solves this. No just-in-case extras. Ask before adding."

The honest test: are you solving a problem in the room tonight, or a problem you are picturing? If it is a picture, write it on a list. The list is free. The feature is [technical debt](/academy/technical-debt) with a smile.

**What this unlocks**

Features are cheap to add the morning they become real. Saturdays spent on imaginary ones do not come back. Demo first. Cathedral later.