always-document

Project rules requiring documentation when scripts, configuration, architecture, features, bug fixes, or workflows change.

In plain words
What is it for?
Updating the relevant comments, guides, architecture notes, configuration documentation, and session summaries after significant work.
Why use it?
They ensure important changes leave an explanation that future contributors can find and follow.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/benwilcock/rhdh-lab/always-document
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/benwilcock/rhdh-lab

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 706 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 706 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00706 $0.00706
Opus 5 $0.00353 $0.00353
Sonnet 5 $0.00141 $0.00141
Haiku 4.5 $0.00071 $0.00071

Measured 2d ago against content hash d4a361ffbddc, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

always-document scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.cursor/rules/always-document.mdc · 72 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 72 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Always Document

Documentation is a first-class requirement in this project, on par with "always use scripts." Every significant change must leave a clear trail that humans can follow.

When to Document

Document after ANY of these:

  • Script changes (new flags, modified behavior, bug fixes)
  • Configuration changes (new settings, changed defaults, new override patterns)
  • Architectural changes (new components, changed data flow, new patterns)
  • New features or capabilities
  • Bug fixes (what was wrong, what was fixed, why)
  • Workflow changes (new steps, changed procedures)
  • Session work with significant changes (summarize what and why)

What to Document

For Script Changes

  • Update the script's header comment block
  • Update docs/scripts.md if the script's purpose or interface changed
  • Update docs/quick-reference.md if lab subcommands or flags changed

For Configuration Changes

  • Update docs/baseline-configuration.md with the new configuration state
  • Add inline YAML comments explaining non-obvious settings

For Architectural Changes

  • Update docs/architecture.md with the new design
  • Update README.md if the high-level description changed

For New Workflows

  • Add to docs/quick-reference.md
  • Consider adding to the rhdh-local-task-recipes skill (.cursor/skills/rhdh-local-task-recipes/SKILL.md)

For Session Work

  • Use clear, descriptive commit messages explaining "why" not just "what"
  • For multi-step changes, summarize the overall goal and approach

Where Documentation Lives

  • README.md -- Getting started guide (update for high-level changes)
  • docs/architecture.md -- System design, copy-sync pattern (update for architectural changes)
  • docs/scripts.md -- rhdh-lab CLI and backup.sh reference (update for script changes)
  • docs/quick-reference.md -- Command cheat sheet (update for new commands or workflows)
  • docs/backup.md -- Backup/restore guide (update for backup system changes)
  • docs/customization-guide.md -- How to customize RHDH (update for customization system changes)
  • docs/baseline-configuration.md -- Current config state (update for configuration changes)
  • docs/testing.md -- Testing workflows (update for test procedure changes)
  • docs/jenkins-integration.md -- Jenkins CI/CD setup (update for Jenkins changes)
  • rhdh-customizations/README.md -- Customization directory guide
  • rhdh-local/docs/rhdh-local-guide/ -- TechDocs in MkDocs format (update for official feature docs)

Read the full file on GitHub · 72 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 72 lines · 706 tokens per session scan A d4a361ffbddc

Subscribe to this mod's changes

always-document is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository benwilcock/rhdh-lab (2 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 706 tokens to every session, about $0.0035 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.