Bastien ChanotandClaude Opus 4.8
06391a6247
Claude Code loads modular rule files from ~/.claude/rules/ (user scope, recursive, markdown, optional paths: frontmatter for lazy path-scoped loading — stable, symlink-supported). The repo had no rules/ at all, so the ctx7 setup had created ~/.claude/rules as a REAL directory outside version control — invisible to the repo, unreproducible on a new machine. - rules/README.md — doctrine: one rule per file; paths:-scoped extraction is the token win, always-on doctrine stays in CLAUDE.md - link.sh — rules added to the symlinked-dirs loop - .gitignore — rules/context7.md ignored (machine-owned: `ctx7 setup` (re)writes it, same treatment as skills/find-docs/) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01XpphkdTosUzokBDNG7PToS
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 byctx7 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 asskills/find-docs/.
Hand-written rules ARE tracked — add them normally.