| 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- Outdated examples.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.
