downstream_doc_updates

A documentation rule that keeps related files up to date when a document they depend on changes.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when editing linked documentation, with dependency maps, validation scripts, and a pre-commit check.
Why use it?
It helps prevent downstream documentation from containing outdated instructions or references.

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/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/markmhendrickson/foundation

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 24 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,810 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 $0.00024 $0.01810
Opus 5 $0.00012 $0.00905
Sonnet 5 $0.00005 $0.00362
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00181

Measured yesterday against content hash c3f2e288d46e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

downstream_doc_updates 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/downstream_doc_updates.mdc · 267 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 267 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Downstream Documentation Update Rule

Reference: foundation/conventions/documentation_standards.md — Documentation standards

Ensures that when upstream documentation is updated, all downstream documentation that depends on it is also updated to maintain consistency across the documentation tree.

Automated validation via:

  • Dependency mapping: docs/doc_dependencies.yaml (or configured path) — Explicit upstream→downstream relationships
  • Validation script: scripts/validate-doc-dependencies.js (or configured path) — Checks downstream docs for outdated references
  • Pre-commit hook: Automatically validates modified docs before commit

Configuration

Configure dependency tracking in foundation-config.yaml:

tooling:
  doc_dependencies:
    enabled: true
    dependency_map_path: "docs/doc_dependencies.yaml"  # Optional
    validation_script_path: "scripts/validate-doc-dependencies.js"  # Optional

Trigger Patterns

When any of the following occur, agents MUST identify and update downstream documentation:

  • Upstream documentation changes:

    • Foundation documents modified (docs/foundation/ or configured path)
    • Architecture documents updated (docs/architecture/ or configured path)
    • Specification changes (docs/specs/ or configured path)
    • Subsystem documentation modified (docs/subsystems/ or configured path)
    • Standards or conventions updated (docs/conventions/, docs/feature_units/standards/ or configured paths)
  • User explicitly requests downstream updates:

    • "update downstream docs"
    • "sync docs with [upstream change]"
    • "ensure all docs reflect [change]"
  • Significant changes to:

    • Core principles or philosophy
    • Architectural decisions or patterns
    • API contracts or specifications
    • Data models or schemas
    • Workflow processes or standards

Documentation Dependency Hierarchy

Generic Upstream → Downstream Relationships

docs/foundation/ (root)
  ↓
docs/architecture/
docs/specs/
docs/conventions/
  ↓
docs/subsystems/
docs/feature_units/standards/
  ↓
docs/feature_units/completed/
docs/releases/
docs/developer/
docs/integrations/
  ↓
README.md

Read the full file on GitHub · 267 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 · 267 lines · 24 tokens per session scan A c3f2e288d46e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

downstream_doc_updates is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository markmhendrickson/foundation (2 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 24 tokens to every session and 1,810 once invoked, about $0.0001 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.