ctx-guidelines

name	ctx-guidelines
description	Apply and audit a team's coding standards with ctx-cli — fetch managed coaching guidelines to write or review code to spec, and inspect discovered AI-guideline files (CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, AGENTS.md) for coverage and cross-repo drift.
allowed-tools	Bash(ctx-cli:*), Bash(curl:*)

Coding guidelines

Prerequisites: requires ctx-cli installed and authenticated. If it isn't, or you haven't run the once-per-session version check, see the ctx skill first.

Two related but distinct surfaces live here:

1. Managed coaching guidelines (get_coding_guidelines) — the curated /coaching-guidelines catalog of team standards. Use when writing or reviewing code. See Managed guidelines.
2. Discovered guideline sources (get_guideline_sources) — the CLAUDE.md / .cursorrules / AGENTS.md files actually present across repos. Use for coverage and drift questions. See Guideline sources.

The first is the curated rule set; the second is what's actually checked into repos. They are different tools answering different questions.

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Managed guidelines — get_coding_guidelines

This is the tool for fetching your org's managed coding guidelines so you can apply them when writing or reviewing code. It's a curated set of team standards (security rules, error-handling patterns, code-quality conventions, …) maintained in the Context Engine.

Always fetch the relevant guidelines first — do not rely on training data or guess what the team's rules are. Then check the code against what the tool returns.

When to reach for this

Task	Call
Apply team standards while writing/reviewing code	get_coding_guidelines (filter by language / category)
"What are our rules for <language>?"	get_coding_guidelines -p language=<lang>
Only a topic (security, error handling, …)	get_coding_guidelines -p category=<cat>
Only the build-breaking rules	get_coding_guidelines -p severity=critical (and error)
Find one rule by keyword	get_coding_guidelines -p search=<text>

Fetch

All filters are optional and applied server-side; call with none to enumerate every enabled guideline (default take=100).

# Everything enabled for the tenant
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -o json

# Guidelines for a language — matches that language OR rules tagged "all"
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -p language=Python -o json

# One category (e.g. security, error-handling, code-quality)
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -p category=security -o json

# Build-breakers only
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -p severity=critical -o json

# Find a specific rule (matches name, description, and guidelineId)
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -p search="input validation" -o json

# Page through a large set
ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines -p take=50 -p skip=50 -o json

Filters:

Param	Notes
language	Singular. Matches guidelines whose languages include it OR are tagged all. Honored server-side but not shown by mcp describe.
category	Exact match, e.g. security | error-handling | code-quality.
severity	Exact: info | warning | error | critical.
search	ILIKE over name, description, and guidelineId.
take	Default 100.
skip	Offset for paging. Honored server-side but not shown by mcp describe.
packId	Restrict to a single guideline pack. Honored server-side but not shown by mcp describe.

get_coding_guidelines is a tier-2 tool, so it appears only under ctx-cli mcp list --tier all -s guidelines — but ctx-cli mcp call get_coding_guidelines reaches it regardless of tier.

Reading the output

The tool returns markdown text, not structured JSON entities. With -o json the markdown arrives as a single string on .result — read it directly; do not pipe it to jq expecting per-guideline fields (there is no entity array to filter). Use the server-side params above to narrow the set instead.

Each guideline block carries:

• guidelineId (e.g. TabnineDefaults::Flask::FlaskInputSecurity) and a human description
• severity (info / warning / error / critical) and category
• languages (omitted when the rule applies to all) and libraries
• goodExample / badExample code blocks where defined

Applying them in a review

1. Fetch the guidelines relevant to the file's language / topic before judging the code.
2. Flag violations by their guidelineId (or name) and severity.
3. Lead with critical and error findings — those are the build-breakers (severity maps to a per-tenant breaksBuild setting); warning / info are advisory.
4. Show the fix using the guideline's own goodExample / badExample when it has them.

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Guideline sources — get_guideline_sources

This is the tool for inspecting the AI-guideline files discovered across the org's repositories — CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, AGENTS.md, Copilot/Windsurf/Cline instructions, and friends. Use it to answer coverage and consistency questions: which repos have (or lack) guideline files, and whether those files have drifted apart across repos.

These are the discovered files actually present in repos. They are distinct from the managed coaching guidelines above (the curated /coaching-guidelines catalog) — for those, use get_coding_guidelines.

When to reach for this

Task	Call
"What % of our repos have guideline files? Which tools?"	get_guideline_sources (mode coverage, default)
"Do our .cursorrules / CLAUDE.md diverge across repos?"	get_guideline_sources -p mode=inconsistencies
"Which repos are missing a CLAUDE.md?"	get_guideline_sources -p mode=inconsistencies (look for incomplete_coverage)
"List the discovered <tool> files"	get_guideline_sources -p mode=sources -p sourceType=<tool>
"What guideline files exist for team / workspace X?"	get_guideline_sources -p mode=sources -p level=<scope> -p id=<uuid>

Fetch

# Org-wide coverage summary (default mode)
ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources -o json

# Inconsistencies: divergent content + missing coverage across repos
ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources -p mode=inconsistencies -o json

# List discovered files of one tool
ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources -p mode=sources -p sourceType=claude -o json

# Scope inconsistencies / listing to a team or workspace (id required for non-org scope)
ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources -p mode=inconsistencies -p level=team -p id=<uuid> -o json
ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources -p mode=sources -p level=workspace -p id=<uuid> -o json

Parameters:

Param	Notes
mode	coverage (default) | inconsistencies | sources. Unknown values fall back to coverage.
level	Scope for inconsistencies / sources: repo | workspace | team | organization (default).
id	Scope id (data-source / workspace / team UUID). Required when level is not organization.
sourceType	Filter discovered files by tool: claude, cursor, copilot, agents, windsurf, cline, …
search	Match discovered files by path / repository / content.
take	Max files returned in sources mode (default 100).

get_guideline_sources is a tier-2 tool, so it appears only under ctx-cli mcp list --tier all -s guideline — but ctx-cli mcp call get_guideline_sources reaches it regardless of tier.

What each mode returns

All modes return markdown text (not JSON entities). With -o json the markdown arrives as a single string on .result — read it directly; do not jq it. Use the params above to narrow.

• coverage — reposWithGuidelines / totalRepos (percent), repos without any file, and a per-source-type table (files + repos per tool).
• inconsistencies — one block per finding:
  • divergent_content (severity warning): the same tool's file has different content across repos (hash mismatch) — lists the affected files/repos.
  • incomplete_coverage (severity info): some repos are missing a file that most repos in scope have — lists the repos without it.
• sources — a table of the discovered files (source type, repository, path, URL).

How to use the findings

1. Start with coverage to see the lay of the land, then inconsistencies to find drift/gaps.
2. For a divergent_content finding, fetch the actual files (mode=sources -p sourceType=<tool>) or open their URLs to compare and propose a reconciled version.
3. For incomplete_coverage, the missing repos are candidates for adding the guideline file — you can seed one from the org's managed guidelines (see Managed guidelines).