# CRITICAL OPERATIONAL CONSTRAINTS

## ⛔ NEVER RESTART SERVICES WITHOUT EXPLICIT USER PERMISSION ⛔

### Affected Services:
- `media-downloader.service` (scheduler)
- ANY systemd service related to media downloader
- ANY process that could interrupt downloads

### Why This Is Critical:
- Downloads can take hours to complete
- Restarting interrupts active downloads and loses progress
- User has explicitly forbidden this multiple times
- Data loss and wasted bandwidth occur

### What To Do Instead:

#### ✅ CORRECT Approach:
```bash
# After making code changes, inform user:
"The changes are complete and saved to the files.
When you're ready to apply them, you can restart
the service with: sudo systemctl restart media-downloader.service"
```

#### ❌ NEVER Do This:
```bash
# DO NOT run these commands automatically:
sudo systemctl restart media-downloader.service
sudo systemctl stop media-downloader.service
pkill -f media-downloader.py
```

### Exception:
ONLY restart services if the user EXPLICITLY requests it in the current message:
- "restart the service"
- "apply the changes now"
- "reload the scheduler"

If unclear, ASK first: "Would you like me to restart the service to apply these changes?"

### History:
- User has been interrupted during downloads multiple times
- User has explicitly warned about this constraint repeatedly
- This has caused significant frustration and data loss

## Other Critical Constraints

### Database Operations:
- Always use transactions for multi-step database operations
- Never delete data without user confirmation

### File Operations:
- Never delete user files without explicit permission
- Always verify paths before destructive operations

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Last Updated: 2025-11-13