chapter-validation

A checklist for reviewing tutorial chapters before they are published. It checks chapter metadata, file names, links, images, and required content structure.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when validating files under the tutorial chapters directory. It is useful for checking frontmatter, which is the metadata at the top of a Markdown file, and confirming that each chapter follows the required layout.
Why use it?
It helps find missing fields, incorrect chapter numbering, broken prerequisites, and other publication problems early.

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/dalehurley/codewithphp/chapter-validation
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dalehurley/codewithphp

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 0 Nothing until a file matches its globs; then the whole rule loads.
When invoked 2,126 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
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 $0.00000 $0.02126
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.01063
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00425
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00213

Measured yesterday against content hash d8ef0bdcd029, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

chapter-validation 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 yesterday.

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/chapter-validation.mdc · 264 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 264 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Chapter Validation Checklist

This rule provides a systematic checklist for validating all tutorial chapters before publication. Every chapter in the /docs/series/*/chapters/ directory should pass these checks.

Frontmatter Validation

Every chapter MUST have complete and valid frontmatter:

  • Title Format: "NN: Chapter Title" (zero-padded chapter number + colon + title)
  • Description: Single sentence, present tense, no period at end
  • Series: Matches the series directory name exactly
  • Chapter Number: Matches the filename number (e.g., 01-filename.md has chapter: 1)
  • Order: Usually matches chapter number (may differ for special chapters like 15b)
  • Difficulty: One of: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
  • Prerequisites: Valid links to existing chapters (if applicable)

Example of valid frontmatter:

---
title: "01: Your First PHP Script"
description: "Write and execute your first PHP program"
series: "php-basics"
chapter: 1
order: 1
difficulty: "Beginner"
prerequisites: []
---

Content Structure Validation

  • Hero Image: Present after frontmatter, before main heading

    • Format: ![Chapter Title](/images/{series}/chapter-{nn}-{slug}-full.webp)
    • Image exists at /docs/public/images/{series}/
  • Main Heading: Single H1 heading matching title format

    • Should be: # NN: Chapter Title
  • Overview Section: 2-4 paragraphs explaining what will be learned

    • States learning objectives clearly
    • Connects to previous chapters
    • Previews final outcome
  • Prerequisites Section: Lists requirements before starting

    • Software versions specified
    • Previous chapters linked
    • Estimated Time: Included
  • What You'll Build: Bulleted deliverables

  • Objectives: 4-7 action-oriented learning goals

  • Step-by-Step Sections: Each step includes:

    • Goal (one sentence)
    • Actions (numbered list)
    • Expected Result (code output or behavior)
    • Why It Works (2-4 sentence explanation)
    • Troubleshooting (2-3 common errors)

Read the full file on GitHub · 264 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. yesterday First seen · 264 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A d8ef0bdcd029

Subscribe to this mod's changes

chapter-validation is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository dalehurley/codewithphp (5 stars, last pushed 6mo ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 2,126 tokens. 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.