Project Rules

You might say

I keep reminding the AI to use TypeScript and our existing styles. Can these requirements live in project rules?

Repository-level instruction files that inject team stack requirements, coding conventions, and operational boundaries into an AI agent.For example, a team can record its stack, code style, validation steps, and operating boundaries in AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or another file supported by the tool. Whether it is loaded, which directories it covers, and its precedence are product-specific. Rules reduce repetition but do not guarantee compliance or replace permissions and tests.

AGENTS.mdCLAUDE.mdCursor Rules

How do project rules affect an agent's code generation?

Project repository

Where the code, folders, and task live

reads by scope

AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md

States rules for the applicable scope

shapes actions

Agent behavior

Follows the rules while reading, editing, and verifying

Project rules tell an agent how to work in a directory; they are not permanent memory inside the model.

What do project rules control?

Rules files contain conventions and constraints: A typical AGENTS.md or .cursorrules includes: (1) project overview and tech stack; (2) code conventions and structure; (3) forbidden actions (e.g. no committing, deleting DBs); (4) verification steps. Starting with 5–10 high-value rules works best.

Become part of the multi-turn context: Tools read project rules and pass them to the model automatically, reducing repetitive prompting.

Share rules with the repo, but never secrets: Team rules are committed to Git; real API keys and local paths belong in environment variables, not rules files.

You can say this to an AI Agent

Read the project rules before editing the button component. Follow the existing stack, do not use any, and ask before delete or reset commands. Run the project's existing checks after editing.

Learn next

1Configuration File→2Skill→3Permission Mode→

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The AI keeps generating code outside the team's stack. What is the most direct fix?

A. Put code style rules in the client config that only controls the Provider and portB. Only add compiler or linter checks and they will tell the AI how to write code before generationC. Put the stack, code style, and risky-action approval rules in project instructions