A set of coding guidelines for making software easier to read, change, and maintain.

Use it when writing or reviewing code to choose clearer names, split responsibilities, reduce repetition, structure files, and add useful comments.

It helps prevent confusing names, duplicated logic, oversized functions, hidden values, and disorganized code.

clean-code — Cursor rule by paulpham157

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/paulpham157/paul-s-cursor-rules/clean-code

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/paulpham157/paul-s-cursor-rules

Per session 28 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.

When invoked 366 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.

Origin 97% copy Near-identical to another mod 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.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5	$0.00028	$0.00366
Opus 5	$0.00014	$0.00183
Sonnet 5	$0.00006	$0.00073
Haiku 4.5	$0.00003	$0.00037

Measured 2d ago against content hash 7a5adc279ebf, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

clean-code 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.

Origin

This is a copy

97% identical to clean-code — 6 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

1/framework_rules/rules-new/clean-code.mdc · 55 lines

What it actually says

Clean Code Guidelines

Constants Over Magic Numbers

Replace hard-coded values with named constants
Use descriptive constant names that explain the value's purpose
Keep constants at the top of the file or in a dedicated constants file

Meaningful Names

Variables, functions, and classes should reveal their purpose
Names should explain why something exists and how it's used
Avoid abbreviations unless they're universally understood

Smart Comments

Don't comment on what the code does - make the code self-documenting
Use comments to explain why something is done a certain way
Document APIs, complex algorithms, and non-obvious side effects

Single Responsibility

Each function should do exactly one thing
Functions should be small and focused
If a function needs a comment to explain what it does, it should be split

DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)

Extract repeated code into reusable functions
Share common logic through proper abstraction
Maintain single sources of truth

Clean Structure

Keep related code together
Organize code in a logical hierarchy
Use consistent file and folder naming conventions

Encapsulation

Hide implementation details
Expose clear interfaces
Move nested conditionals into well-named functions

Code Quality Maintenance

Refactor continuously
Fix technical debt early
Leave code cleaner than you found it

Testing

Write tests before fixing bugs
Keep tests readable and maintainable
Test edge cases and error conditions

Version Control

Write clear commit messages
Make small, focused commits
Use meaningful branch names

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.

2d ago First seen · 55 lines · 28 tokens per session scan A 7a5adc279ebf

Subscribe to this mod's changes

clean-code is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository paulpham157/paul-s-cursor-rules (27 stars, last pushed 1y ago), licensed MIT. It adds 28 tokens to every session and 366 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 97% identical to clean-code, differing in 6 lines, and is treated as a copy.

Writing and docs ai cursor cursorrules

clean-code