rule-composition

A set of rules for organizing agent instructions into small, focused files instead of one large manual. Specialized rules are loaded only when a task needs them.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when structuring project guidance for coding agents. It helps divide instructions by areas such as architecture, testing, security, infrastructure, or delivery.
Why use it?
It makes instructions easier to maintain and reduces contradictions and unused context. Root files such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md remain short entry points.

Cursor rule

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/jterratsdev/ableton-live-mcp/rule-composition
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jterratsdev/ableton-live-mcp
Per session 389 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 389 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 $0.00389 $0.00389
Opus 5 $0.00195 $0.00195
Sonnet 5 $0.00078 $0.00078
Haiku 4.5 $0.00039 $0.00039

Measured yesterday against content hash 67d2884208e0, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

rule-composition 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.

rules/rule-composition.mdc · 29 lines

What it actually says

Rule Composition

Prefer small, focused rule files referenced from a concise root file. Large monolithic instruction files are harder to maintain, easier to contradict, and waste context on rules that may not apply to the current task.

Root Files

  • Root files such as AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md must act as entry points, not full manuals.
  • Keep root files limited to universal rules, role summaries, and pointers to specialized rule files.
  • If a section grows beyond a short summary, extract it to rules/*.mdc and keep only the operating principle in the root file.

Specialized Rules

  • Use one rule file per responsibility area: architecture, API design, data modeling, frontend, performance, concurrency, testing, security, delivery, collaboration, infrastructure, DevOps tooling, or product.
  • Each rule file must have a clear description and a single reason to change.
  • Avoid duplicating detailed guidance across files. Put the source of truth in one rule and summarize it elsewhere.

Skill-Like Loading

  • Treat specialized rule files like skills: load the relevant rule only when the task needs that domain.
  • For broad delivery work, load roles, collaboration, readiness/done, API design, data modeling, frontend, performance, concurrency, testing, security, delivery quality gates, UX/UI, release/rollback, DevOps tooling, documentation, dependency, config, code review, and AI-assisted development rules together.
  • For narrow edits, load the smallest set of rules that can govern the change safely.

Maintenance

  • Prefer adding a new focused rule file over expanding an unrelated one.
  • Review root files periodically and remove details that have moved into specialized rules.
  • If two rules conflict, keep the stricter safety, security, or quality requirement and record the decision.
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 · 29 lines · 389 tokens per session scan A 67d2884208e0

Subscribe to this mod's changes

rule-composition is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository jterratsdev/ableton-live-mcp (0 stars, last pushed 8d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 389 tokens to every session, about $0.0019 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.