Rules

Without rules, you repeat the same instructions every conversation. “Use tabs.” “No console.log.” “Always parameterize SQL.” “Don’t add unrequested features.” Every. Single. Session.

Rules fix that. Files in ~/.claude/rules/ load automatically at the start of every session - Claude reads them before doing anything else.

How to use this folder in Claude:

1. Copy this rules/ folder to ~/.claude/rules/
2. Keep broad rules as always-loaded markdown files
3. Use frontmatter (applyTo/paths) on specialized rules so they only load for matching files

The current rules here are split into always-loaded and conditional files. That keeps enforcement strict without wasting context on irrelevant stacks.

Design principles (v2026.3)

These rules follow community-validated patterns for instruction compliance:

• Instruction budget awareness. Always-loaded rules total ~190 lines (down from ~310). Frontier LLMs reliably follow 150-200 instructions; beyond that, compliance degrades linearly.
• Positive framing. Rules tell Claude what TO do, not what to avoid. Flipping negative rules to positive equivalents cuts violations by roughly half.
• Deduplication. Each rule lives in exactly one file. Cross-cutting concepts (e.g., “tests pass but code has bugs”) are not repeated across files.
• Primacy/recency ordering. Most-violated rules sit at the top and bottom of each file to exploit attention bias.

Files in this folder

File	What it does
architecture.md	Modular-first structure guidance (200-line rule, atomic responsibility, monorepo boundaries).
debugging.md	Root-cause-first debugging protocol: validate one hypothesis at a time, trace full data flow, no speculative fixes.
dependencies.md	Blocks hallucinated packages/URLs and enforces dependency hygiene before adding or referencing anything external.
discipline.md	Scope control, anti-overengineering rules, complete implementation checks, and regression awareness guardrails.
environment.md	Configuration-file handling rules for build/tooling/env files (tsconfig, .env, Docker, bundler configs, etc.).
php-wordpress.md	WordPress/PHP-specific development standards and conventions for WP projects.
security.md	Always-on security baseline: input validation, SQL injection prevention, XSS prevention, secret handling.
style.md	Output fidelity and code style guardrails (tabs-only, no placeholders, no hallucinated APIs).
testing.md	Test-first workflow and test quality rules (failing test first, behavior-focused assertions, mock skepticism).
ui-ux.md	Frontend UI/UX quality rules for component/page/template styling and interaction work.
verification.md	Verification and failure-recovery loop: run build/test/lint, fix, re-run, and respect hook behavior.

Always-loaded rules

These are broad baseline rules that apply across all tasks:

• architecture.md
• debugging.md
• dependencies.md
• discipline.md
• security.md
• style.md
• testing.md
• verification.md

Conditional rules

These are scoped by frontmatter so Claude only loads them when relevant files are in play:

• environment.md
• php-wordpress.md
• ui-ux.md

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