Getting it into your agent
It runs from inside its repository, so the clone comes first — what it calls does not travel with the file alone.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/markmhendrickson/foundationnpx agentmods add rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updatesWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/downstream_doc_updates.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00024 | $0.01810 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00010 | $0.00724 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00005 | $0.00362 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00002 | $0.00181 |
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 1mo 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.
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)
- Foundation documents modified (
-
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
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.
- 1mo ago First seen · 267 lines · 24 tokens per session scan A c3f2e288d46e
downstream_doc_updates is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository markmhendrickson/foundation (2 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 24 tokens to every session and 1,810 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5.5. 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.
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