rules-creator

name	rules-creator
description	[What] Guide for creating Claude Code rules. Provides guidance on when to use CLAUDE.md vs .claude/rules/ and step-by-step creation procedures. [When] Use when: you want to enforce project standards, guide AI behavior, or create/modify rules. [Keywords] rules, guidelines, project standards, policy, enforcement, claude.md

Rules Creator

A guide for defining and enforcing project standards using the Claude Code rules system.

Two-Layer Rule Structure

Claude Code rules consist of two mechanisms:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLAUDE.md (Guidelines)                  │  ← Suggestions / Recommendations
│ - Development philosophy, best practices │
│ - AI understands and follows, but not   │
│   strictly enforced                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
                 ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ .claude/rules/ (Rules)                  │  ← Enforced / Constraints
│ - Scope can be limited with paths       │
│ - AI automatically references and       │
│   adheres to these                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Type	Enforcement Level	Location	Purpose
Guidelines	Suggestion	CLAUDE.md	Development philosophy, best practices
Rules	Enforced	.claude/rules/	Constraints, standards, policies

Load Order and Priority

Rules are loaded at 2 levels:

Level	Path	Scope	Priority
User-level	~/.claude/rules/*.md	All projects (shared)	Low (loaded first)
Project-level	.claude/rules/*.md	Project-specific	High (loaded later, overrides)

• Subdirectories are recursively explored
• Symbolic links are supported

When to Use Guidelines

• Sharing general principles
• Conveying philosophy or values
• Recommending best practices
• No enforcement needed

Examples: "Type safety should be prioritized", "Tests are important"

Location: CLAUDE.md (project root or ~/.claude/)

When to Use Rules

• Enforceable standards are required
• Clear constraints need to be defined
• Violations can be detected
• Want to scope to specific file patterns

Examples: "No use of any type", "All API endpoints require input validation"

Location: .claude/rules/

Limit Scope with paths Frontmatter

---
paths:
  - "src/api/**/*.{ts,tsx}"
  - "{src,lib}/**/*.ts"
---
# API Development Rules

- All API endpoints require input validation
- Use standard error response format

When paths is omitted, the rule applies to all files.

Detailed Reference

• references/rules-system.md - Load order, glob patterns, structure, anti-patterns

Resources

• resources/templates/rule-template.md - Rule template
• resources/examples/type-safety-rule.md - Type safety rule example
• resources/examples/scoped-api-rule.md - paths scope example
• resources/checklist.md - Quality checklist

Related Skills

• hookify plugin: Event-driven automatic actions (pre-commit hooks, etc.)