Tell the agent to orient in the project before it edits

internal/work/work.go

@@ -149,6 +149,23 @@ func (j Job) Instructions() string {
 			"Work the bead %s. Read it first, do what it asks, and close it when the work "+
 				"is done and not before. If you cannot complete it, leave it open and say why "+
 				"in a comment.%s\n\n"+
+				// Project orientation, said because its absence is expensive.
+				//
+				// The agent gets the bead and the checkout and nothing about the
+				// project itself -- no objective, no conventions -- so it
+				// rediscovers all of that by reading files, every run. datc-yft
+				// spent 872k input tokens across 177 steps on a task that was in
+				// part exploration it could have skipped. A repository usually
+				// states its own conventions; pointing the agent at them first is
+				// one line and turns a generic reimplementation into a change that
+				// fits the project a reviewer will accept.
+				"Before you change anything, get your bearings in this project. If it has "+
+				"guide files -- AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, README, CONTRIBUTING, or a docs/ "+
+				"directory -- read those first, then skim the code next to where you will "+
+				"work. They carry the conventions, the build, and the patterns this project "+
+				"already uses, so your change matches it rather than being a generic version a "+
+				"reviewer has to rework. This is cheap and saves the run that reimplements "+
+				"something the project already had a pattern for.\n\n"+
 				// The premature-stop guard. A run ends when a turn takes no action, so
 				// an agent that thinks out loud without editing or running anything
 				// stops mid-task -- ent4-tek exited after 3 minutes having only

internal/work/work_test.go

@@ -108,3 +108,18 @@ func TestAWorkJobNamesTheCheckout(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// A work job tells the agent to orient in the project before it edits.
+//
+// Without it the agent rediscovers the project's conventions by reading files
+// every run: datc-yft spent 872k input tokens across 177 steps, part of it
+// exploration it could have skipped. The prompt now points it at the repo's own
+// guide files first.
+func TestTheWorkPromptTellsTheAgentToGetOriented(t *testing.T) {
+	got := Job{Kind: KindWork, Cell: "oss", Bead: "wg-1"}.Instructions()
+	for _, want := range []string{"get your bearings", "AGENTS.md", "CONTRIBUTING"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(got, want) {
+			t.Errorf("the instructions do not point the agent at project context (%q):\n%s", want, got)
+		}
+	}
+}