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+# Agent Guide: IMPC API
+
+This document provides context, rules, and guidelines for AI agents (like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Gemini) working on the `impc-api` codebase.
+
+## 🛠 Tech Stack
+- **Language**: Python 3.10+
+- **Data Handling**: `pandas` (primary output format for dataframes)
+- **Networking**: `requests` (for API calls)
+- **Validation**: `pydantic` (for input/parameter validation)
+- **Testing**: `pytest`
+- **Progress Tracking**: `tqdm`
+- **Environment**: Optimized for Jupyter Notebooks/Lab
+
+## 📂 Project Structure
+- `impc_api/`: Core package directory.
+  - `solr_request.py`: Standard single-request logic.
+  - `batch_solr_request.py`: Logic for large/chunked requests.
+  - `utils/`:
+    - `validators.py`: Pydantic models for core/field validation.
+    - `core_fields.json`: Source of truth for valid Solr cores and their allowed fields.
+    - `warnings.py`: Custom warning categories (e.g., `InvalidCoreWarning`).
+- `tests/`: Unit and integration tests.
+
+## 📏 Coding Conventions & Rules
+
+### 1. Validation First
+- Always validate `core` and `fl` (field list) parameters using `CoreParamsValidator` in `impc_api/utils/validators.py`.
+- Validation should generally issue **Warnings** rather than raising Errors to avoid breaking user workflows, unless the request is physically impossible (e.g., unsupported download format).
+- Refer to `impc_api/utils/core_fields.json` when suggesting new fields or cores.
+
+### 2. Jupyter Compatibility
+- Maintain compatibility with `ipykernel` and `notebook`.
+- Ensure output is clean and informative for notebook users (e.g., using `tqdm` for progress bars in batch requests).
+
+### 3. Type Hinting
+- Use explicit type hints for all function signatures and complex variables.
+- Use `typing.Dict`, `typing.List`, and `typing.Optional` as needed.
+
+### 4. Testing
+- **Always** verify changes by running `pytest`.
+- New features should include corresponding tests in `tests/`.
+- Use `pytest.mark.parametrize` for testing multiple API scenarios.
+
+## ⌨️ Key Commands
+```bash
+# Install for development
+pip install -e .[dev]
+
+# Run all tests
+pytest
+
+# Run a specific test file
+pytest tests/test_solr_request.py
+
+# Check linting (if configured)
+# Currently, the project uses standard Python conventions.
+```
+
+## 🚧 Boundaries & Constraints
+- **Secrets**: Never commit API keys or sensitive internal URLs. The IMPC API is public, but always double-check.
+- **Dependencies**: Do not add new heavy dependencies without consulting the `pyproject.toml`.
+- **API Strain**: When implementing new features, ensure they don't put unnecessary load on the IMPC Solr servers. Use `batch_size` defaults appropriately.
+
+## 💡 Common Tasks
+- **Updating Allowed Fields**: Add the field name to the corresponding core list in `impc_api/utils/core_fields.json`.
+- **Adding a New Core**: 
+  1. Add the core name and its fields to `core_fields.json`.
+  2. Update any relevant documentation in `README.md`.
+- **Modifying Validation**: Edit `impc_api/utils/validators.py` and ensure `pydantic` models are updated.