rule-creator

name	rule-creator
description	Claude Code rule management at project and user level. Use when defining conventions, scoping, listing, editing, extracting, or deleting rules. Not for procedural workflows, lifecycle hooks, or one-off task instructions.

Rule Creator

Creates rules at project or user level and manages the rule set at both.

Triggers and dispatch

Signal in input	Mode	Load
"create / add / new rule", "convention", "standard", or a declarative description with no verb	create	classify-and-context.md, then rule-format.md
"list / show rules", "what rules exist"	list	modes.md
"edit / update / change rule X"	edit	modes.md, rule-format.md
"extract / split / move from AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md", "AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md is too big"	extract	modes.md
"delete / remove rule X"	delete	modes.md

A rule has two independent axes:

Axis	Values	Materializes as
Level	user (~/.claude/rules/) / project (.claude/rules/)	the directory written to
Scope	unconditional / path-scoped	absence or presence of paths: frontmatter

Project rules take priority over user rules. user + path-scoped is unavailable, so a path signal resolves the level to project.

Workflow

trigger → dispatch → classify → context → destination → render → write
              |              |
              v              v
           list/edit     refuse (procedural / lifecycle / one-off)
           extract/del

Create runs the classifier and context check before rendering the template. Other modes skip classification.

Create gates (run in order)

1. Classify input. Procedural multi-step → refuse and recommend authoring a skill instead. Lifecycle event → refuse and recommend a hook. One-off task → refuse, suggest doing it directly. Declarative convention → proceed. See classify-and-context.md.
2. Context check. Stack mismatch, duplicate topic across both levels, or contradiction with a memory file → flag and ask before writing. Same reference.
3. Destination decision. Level from explicit signals; no signal → ask. Scope from path signals. Same reference.
4. Render. Use the flexible rule template in rule-format.md. Keep the explanation paragraph; add principles, an Incorrect/Correct pair, or a reference only when that section clarifies or verifies the constraint.
5. Verifiability checklist. Run the three checks in rule-format.md. Fail any → rewrite before saving.
6. Write. New topic → new file under the chosen level's rules directory, named for the topic: kebab-case descriptive noun, lowercase ASCII, hyphens only (testing.md, api-design.md — never rules.md or misc.md). Discovery is recursive, so a subdirectory (frontend/testing.md) is available when a level accumulates enough topics to group them. A shared destination writes the file to the named directory and links it into this project only. Existing topic without conflict → append H2. Existing topic with conflict → ask user.