code-review-rules-drift

name	code-review-rules-drift
description	Audit whether the .claude/rules/* guidance still matches the code after a change — stale conventions, drifted examples, rules describing removed behaviour, or new conventions the change introduces that a rule should capture. Read-only; produces a conformance report and never edits code or rules.
license	proprietary
metadata	{"team":"engineering","tags":"code-review, rules, conventions, drift, quality","mcp":false}
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Glob, Skill, Bash(git diff *), Bash(git status *)

Code Review: rules drift

Audit whether the .claude/rules/* guidance and the rule-related conventions in CLAUDE.md still describe the code accurately after this change.

Step 1 — scope & protocol

Invoke the ably-skills:code-review-protocol skill (via the Skill tool). It defines the report-only rule, scope resolution (honouring any $ARGUMENTS override), the severity scale, and the exact report format. Use concern = rules drift. Apply the criteria below, then emit the report it specifies.

This is the inverse of code-review-rules-conformance: there we ask "does the code obey the rules"; here we ask "do the rules still describe the code". A change can be perfectly conformant yet leave a rule stale. Read the rule files (.claude/rules/*.md) and the rules guidance in CLAUDE.md.

Step 2 — what to look for

• Drifted references. A rule cites a symbol, path, signature, enum value, or log string that the change renamed, moved, or removed. Per CLAUDE.md, rules state principles and point to the authoritative source in code — flag any concrete instance a rule names that no longer matches.
• Outdated examples. A code example in a rule now contradicts how the code works after the change.
• Removed behaviour. A rule describes a behaviour, pattern, or constraint the change eliminated.
• Uncaptured new convention. The change establishes a new convention or pattern that future work should follow but no rule records — or it invalidates an existing rule's premise.
• Code-discoverable detail leaking into rules — a rule edit prompted by the change that mirrors drift-prone detail (directory trees, exhaustive symbol lists, copied signatures) rather than a principle + pointer, against the rules-table preamble in CLAUDE.md.

For each finding, name the rule file and the code it has drifted from, and suggest principle-level wording rather than a detail that will drift again.