rules-management

Rules Management

Manage project-level agent behavioural rules.

Prerequisites

• The rules file (path shown in Quick Start below) must exist in the repository root. If it is missing, create it with a # Agent Rules heading first.
• Only invoke this skill when the user explicitly requests a new rule -- do not infer rule creation from unrelated conversation.
• Depends on the user providing a clear behavioural directive; if the instruction is vague, ask for clarification before writing.
• The rule schema (assets/schemas/rule-entry.schema.json) and template (assets/templates/rule-entry.yaml) define the structured title/directive/rationale shape a rule entry MUST have.

Quick Start

# Read current rules
cat .claude/RULES.md

# Validate the rules file against the schema before or after editing it
./scripts/validate-rules.sh validate .claude/RULES.md

# Generate a correctly-formatted entry from the template instead of hand-writing one
./scripts/validate-rules.sh generate "<title>" "<directive>" "<rationale>"

→ Produces the full current ruleset for duplicate checking, and a schema-validated way to both read and write entries.

Where Rules Live

All agent rules reside in a single file (path shown in Quick Start above). This is the authoritative source that all agents read before acting in this repository.

When to Use

Create a new rule whenever the user says something like:

• "New rule: ..."
• "Add a rule that ..."
• "Record that ..."
• "Make a rule about ..."
• "Codify this as a rule"
• "Note this" / "Take note of ..."
• "New instruction: ..."

The user's instruction becomes the rule body. You MUST:

1. Read the existing rules file first (see Quick Start) -- check every ### Rule: heading to avoid duplicates
2. If a rule with the same directive already exists, inform the user and do NOT create a duplicate
3. Append the new rule following the format below -- PREFER scripts/validate-rules.sh generate over hand-typing the three-line block
4. Inform the user you've added it
5. Confirm by running scripts/validate-rules.sh validate before treating the change as done -- TYPICALLY this is the same command as the Quick Start validation step