clarity/binding-ambiguous

Severity: warning Category: clarity Fixable: no

What it catches

A single directive that uses both binding modal language ("must", "always", "never") and advisory language ("try to", "should", "when possible", "consider") in the same sentence.

Why it matters

Mixing modals creates permission ambiguity. "Try to always commit before pushing" reads as either "commit before pushing is mandatory" or "aim for commit-before-push but it's OK to skip sometimes" — different agents resolve it differently, and the same agent will resolve it differently on different runs. Pick one.

Example — bad

- Try to always commit before pushing.
- You must, when possible, review security diffs with two people.

Example — good

- You must commit before pushing.
- Prefer two reviewers on security-sensitive diffs.