# References

External documents, source research, and inherited Mars references that influence MARS design.

| File | Type | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [ai-engineering-system-design-reading-list.md](ai-engineering-system-design-reading-list.md) | Reference list | Neo Kim AI engineering reading list covering agent state, memory, context engineering, RAG, MCP, evals, coding workflows, and multi-agent architecture. |
| [archon-comparator.md](archon-comparator.md) | Comparator | Audit of Archon workflow-engine ideas worth adopting into MARS and the cloud-agent, PR-first, or arbitrary-script patterns to reject. |
| [harness-engineering-agent-first.md](harness-engineering-agent-first.md) | Article | OpenAI Harness Engineering article. Foundational reference for agent-first development, repo-as-system-record, progressive disclosure, mechanical guardrails, and failure feedback loops. |
| [mars-meta-harness-relevance-audit.md](mars-meta-harness-relevance-audit.md) | Audit | Audit of Mars rules and documentation, identifying which pieces should inform MARS parity work. |
| [midscene-dogfood-agent-evaluation.md](midscene-dogfood-agent-evaluation.md) | Tool evaluation | Evaluation of Midscene as an optional Dogfood visual-validation lane, including the ephemeral external runtime principle and cleanup requirements. |
| [mdn-technical-writing.md](mdn-technical-writing.md) | Writing reference | MDN technical-writing principles for clarity, conciseness, consistency, logical structure, examples, accessible link text, and proofreading. |
| [model-landscape-april-2026.md](model-landscape-april-2026.md) | Research | Local model and hardware research for default inference choices. |
| [model-landscape-may-2026.md](model-landscape-may-2026.md) | Research | May 2026 model refresh shortlist and benchmark promotion gate for future defaults. |
| [openharness-comparator.md](openharness-comparator.md) | Comparator | Audit of OpenHarness ideas worth adopting into MARS and the runtime/plugin patterns to reject. |
| [openharness-review-may-2026.md](openharness-review-may-2026.md) | Comparator | Follow-up review of OpenHarness repo strengths, autopilot overlap, Mars differentiators, safety concerns, and later-action candidates. |
| [open-source-codex-orchestration-symphony.md](open-source-codex-orchestration-symphony.md) | Article | OpenAI Symphony article. Reference for issue/ticket-driven orchestration, per-task workspaces, workflow contracts, retries, and structured observability. |
| [ui-design-brain.md](ui-design-brain.md) | Skill reference | Structured UI component knowledge model for future generated frontend target guidance. |
| [vercel-composition-patterns.md](vercel-composition-patterns.md) | Skill reference | React composition rule patterns for generated target repos and future frontend guardrail bundles. |
| [vercel-react-best-practices.md](vercel-react-best-practices.md) | Skill reference | Structured rule packaging, impact levels, examples, and testable agent guidance. |