ad-rules

<background_information> Loads the rules in force and reinforces them by listing their topics in the conversation. Nothing else — it does not check work against them (`ad-audit`), does not change them (`ad-level-up`), and writes no files. It exists because the practitioner's cross-project rules live in the host's global instruction file, at a path that differs per machine — often a symlink into a personal workflow repo — so every session opened with the same manual instruction: read this file, bring the topics. Restating the rules is the point, not a side effect: rules that are never re-read stop binding. What should not repeat is the path archaeology. </background_information> <instructions> Step 0 — confirm regime. Run when the user asks to load, see, list, or refresh the rules in force, asks what governs the current work, or starts in a repo whose conventions they have not read. Route elsewhere when: - The work should be checked against the rules → `ad-audit`. - A rule should be added, sharpened, merged, or retired → `ad-level-up`. - Documentation-vs-code drift is the question → `ad-drift`. - "What do I do next" is the question → `ad-next`. Step 1 — resolve the host's global rules. This is the primary target and the reason the skill exists. Check the canonical per-host locations. Resolve symlinks with `-f` and report both ends — a global `CLAUDE.md` is very often a symlink into a personal workflow repo, and the real path is the one the user edits. A broken link is its own state: report "found, target missing" rather than letting it read as absent, since that is a rules file the user believes they still have. ```bash for p in ~/.codex/AGENTS.md ~/.codex/instructions.md ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md ~/.claude/AGENTS.md; do if [ -L "$p" ]; then if [ -e "$p" ]; then echo "LINK $p -> $(readlink -f "$p")" else echo "BROKEN $p -> $(readlink "$p") (target missing)"; fi elif [ -e "$p" ]; then echo "FILE $p" fi done ``` If none resolves, search for a practitioner file under the names these carry in the wild — `AGENTS.<initials>.md`, `AGENTS.global.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `rules.md` — and present what you found for the user to pick. Never assume the first hit is theirs; always name a file outside the repo before opening it: ```bash find "$HOME" -maxdepth 4 \( -iname 'AGENTS*.md' -o -iname 'CLAUDE.md' \) \ -not -path '*/node_modules/*' -not -path '*/.git/*' 2>/dev/null | head -20 ``` When more than one canonical path resolves, the first in the list above wins — this host's own file — and the others are reported as also-present rather than merged. An absent global layer is a valid state, not an error. Say so plainly rather than manufacturing a source. When the file resolves only by search — not at a canonical host path — say so and name the durable fix: symlink it into the host location so every future session picks it up without being told. ```bash ln -s "<real path>" ~/.codex/AGENTS.md ``` Print the command; never run it. Creating symlinks in the user's home is theirs to approve. Step 2 — resolve the kit's rule-set layers. Secondary, and by reference: the three-layer union and its precedence are defined by ADR-0035 and ADR-0043, restated canonically in `CONTEXT.md`'s rule-set glossary entry, and implemented by `ad-audit` Step 1. Read those; do not re-derive the algorithm here, and do not let this skill become a fourth copy that drifts from them. Report each layer as found or absent — absent and empty are different states, and a report that collapses them tells the reader nothing. Step 3 — surface the topics. For each resolved source extract topics, not contents: a heading or rule-group name plus a clause saying what it governs. The user is deciding what to read, not reading it here. Keep the source visible per topic — a rule the user forgot they wrote lands differently when they can see which file it came from. Order by binding force: the host's global rules first — they are what the user asked to be reminded of and they govern every repo — then the repo's binding docs, then project rules, then the machine store. Within a source preserve its own order; do not re-rank by your own judgement of importance. Flag inline: conflicts (a project rule shadowing a machine-store rule, both texts quoted) and staleness signals (a rule naming a file, flag, or command that no longer exists). Report staleness; never fix it — that is `ad-level-up`'s job and it requires the human gate. Step 4 — report: ``` ## Rules in force — <repo name> ### Global — <resolved path><, symlinked from <link> if applicable> - <topic> — <what it governs> (or "absent — no CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md at a canonical host path") ### Repo binding docs - `AGENTS.md` — <n> topics: <topic>, <topic>, … - `ARCHITECTURE.md` — <n> topics: … - `GUIDELINES.md` — <n> topics: … - Accepted ADRs — <n>: <ADR-NNNN short title>, … ### Kit rule-set layers (per ADR-0035 / ADR-0043) - Machine store — <resolved path, or "absent"> - Project rules — <`.agentic/rules/`, or "absent"> ### Conflicts <project rule shadowing a machine-store rule, both quoted — or "none"> ### Staleness <rules citing files/flags that no longer exist — or "none"> ``` Close with one line naming what the user most likely wanted: the single topic most relevant to the work in progress, or the symlink fix when the global file resolved only by search. </instructions> <output_contract> - Writes nothing. Reads only. - Every source is reported, including absent ones — absent and empty are distinguishable. - The global file's real path is reported, with the symlink it was reached through when there was one. - Topics carry their source file; contents are not dumped. - Conflicts and staleness are reported, never resolved. - The kit's three-layer resolution is referenced (ADR-0035 / ADR-0043 / `CONTEXT.md` / `ad-audit` Step 1), never re-derived here. - When the global file resolves only by search, the `ln -s` command is printed and never run. - No audit verdict, no approval, no rule text changed. </output_contract> ## Next - Check the work against what surfaced → `ad-audit`. - A rule that is wrong, duplicated, or missing → `ad-level-up` (human-gated; never writes unapproved). - A rule citing something that no longer exists → `ad-drift` for the full documentation-vs-code sweep.