rules/

Modular instruction files loaded by Claude Code alongside CLAUDE.md. Symlinked to ~/.claude/rules by link.sh, same model as agents/, skills/, lib/.

What belongs here

One rule = one file = one concern. Candidates: instructions that are self-contained enough to live outside CLAUDE.md's main flow, or that tooling generates/owns.

Rules support an optional paths: YAML frontmatter (glob list). A rule WITH paths loads lazily — only when Claude reads a file matching a glob; a rule WITHOUT it loads at session start, same cost as CLAUDE.md. So: extract from CLAUDE.md only what can be path-scoped (the token win) or what is generated; always-on doctrine stays in CLAUDE.md. Docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory.md#path-specific-rules

Machine-owned files (gitignored, regenerated)

context7.md — written by ctx7 setup --claude --cli (install-plugins.sh STEP ctx7). Not vendored: ctx7 owns its content and rewrites it on setup; the repo would fight the generator. Same treatment as skills/find-docs/.

Hand-written rules ARE tracked — add them normally.