Rules

Rules are markdown files that provide context and constraints to Claude Code. They auto-load based on file paths — edit a Rails controller and the API rules kick in automatically.

How rules work

Rules live in .claude/rules/ and are scoped by file path patterns. When Claude Code is working on a file, matching rules are injected into context.

.claude/rules/
├── api.md          # Loaded when editing api/**/*
├── cli.md          # Loaded when editing cli/**/*
├── dashboard.md    # Loaded when editing dashboard/**/*
└── general.md      # Loaded for all files

Rule file format

Rules are plain markdown. No special frontmatter required.

# API Rules

## Tech Stack
- Rails 8.0 API (JSON endpoints)
- PostgreSQL 15+
- MiniTest for testing

## Patterns
- Controllers are thin — business logic lives in services
- Use Pundit for authorization
- All queries scoped to current organization

Path-based auto-loading

crewkit uses the file path pattern in the rule name to determine when to load it:

This is configured in your project's CLAUDE.md:

> Component-specific rules auto-load by path:
> `api/**/*` -> `.claude/rules/api.md`
> `cli/**/*` -> `.claude/rules/cli.md`
> `dashboard/**/*` -> `.claude/rules/dashboard.md`

Sync behavior

Rules sync the same way as agents — fetched from the API, written to .claude/rules/, checksummed to avoid overwriting local edits.

Rule tiers

Rules can exist at platform, organization, or project level. See Inheritance.

Next steps

• Commands
• Agents
• Inheritance