load-shared-rule

load-shared-rule

Wires a single opt-in rule from ~/.claude/optional_rules/ into the current project's .claude/rules/ directory as a symlink. The rule is auto-loaded by Claude Code at the start of the next session.

Argument

One positional argument: the rule name without extension (e.g. skeletons to load ~/.claude/optional_rules/skeletons.md).

If the user did not specify a rule name, ask them which rule to load and list available rules with:

ls ~/.claude/optional_rules/

Procedure

Run the following as a single bash invocation, substituting the rule name for RULE. Do not split it into multiple Bash calls — the checks chain together and short-circuit on first failure.

RULE=<name>; \
SRC="$HOME/.claude/optional_rules/$RULE.md"; \
if [[ ! -e "$SRC" ]]; then \
  echo "error: rule '$RULE' not found at $SRC"; \
  echo "available rules:"; ls "$HOME/.claude/optional_rules/"; \
  exit 1; \
fi; \
ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)"; \
if [[ "$ROOT" == "$HOME" || "$ROOT" == "$HOME/.claude" ]]; then \
  echo "error: refusing to install into $ROOT — run from inside a project repo"; \
  exit 1; \
fi; \
DST="$ROOT/.claude/rules/$RULE.md"; \
mkdir -p "$ROOT/.claude/rules"; \
if [[ -L "$DST" ]]; then \
  CUR="$(readlink "$DST")"; \
  if [[ "$CUR" == "$SRC" ]]; then \
    echo "already linked: $DST -> $SRC"; \
    exit 0; \
  else \
    echo "conflict: $DST is a symlink to $CUR (expected $SRC) — not overwriting"; \
    exit 1; \
  fi; \
elif [[ -e "$DST" ]]; then \
  echo "conflict: $DST exists as a regular file — not overwriting"; \
  exit 1; \
fi; \
ln -s "$SRC" "$DST"; \
echo "linked: $DST -> $SRC"; \
echo "loaded rule: $RULE"; \
echo "start a fresh Claude Code session in $ROOT to pick up the rule"

Reporting

After the command runs, relay its outcome to the user in one short line. If it printed "already linked", say so and stop. If it errored on conflict or missing rule, surface the error verbatim. On success, remind the user to start a fresh session for the rule to take effect.