media-downloader/docs/CRITICAL_CONSTRAINTS.md

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:

# 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:

# 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