ai-rulez

README

ai-rulez ⚡

Lightning-fast CLI tool (written in Go) for managing AI assistant rules

A high-performance CLI tool for generating configuration files for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and other AI assistants from a single, centralized YAML configuration.

🚀 Features

• ⚡ Blazing Fast: Written in Go for maximum performance and cross-platform compatibility
• 🔧 Multi-Assistant Support: Generate configs for Claude (CLAUDE.md), Cursor (.cursorrules), Windsurf (.windsurfrules), and more
• 📝 Single Source of Truth: Maintain all your AI rules in one YAML configuration
• 🎯 Smart Templates: Built-in and custom templates with full Go template syntax
• 🔍 Validation: Comprehensive configuration validation with JSON Schema
• 📦 Modular Rules: Include system for rule composition with circular dependency detection
• 📚 Sections Support: Mix informative content (docs, guidelines) with rules
• 🔄 Git Integration: Perfect for pre-commit hooks and CI/CD workflows
• ⚡ Incremental Generation: Only writes files when content changes (performance optimized)
• 🎨 Smart Sorting: Dual sorting by priority and name for consistent output
• 🔧 Local Overrides: ID-based rule overriding with .local.yaml files for personal customization
• 🤖 AI-First Headers: Auto-generated headers that clearly instruct AI assistants not to edit files directly
• 🌐 MCP Server: Built-in Model Context Protocol server for direct AI assistant integration
• ✏️ Rule Management: CLI commands to add, update, and delete rules, sections, and outputs
• 🔀 Multiple Config Formats: Supports various naming conventions (.ai-rulez.yaml, ai_rulez.yaml, etc.)

📦 Installation

pip (Recommended for Python users)

pip install ai-rulez

Automatically downloads and manages the Go binary for your platform
Requirements: Python 3.9+ (LTS and above)

npm (Recommended for Node.js users)

# Global installation
npm install -g ai-rulez

# Local project installation  
npm install --save-dev ai-rulez

Automatically downloads and manages the Go binary for your platform
Requirements: Node.js 20+ (LTS and above)

Go (Direct installation)

go install github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez@latest

Homebrew

brew install goldziher/tap/ai-rulez

Direct Download

Download pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases for:

• macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)
• Linux (x64, ARM64, x86)
• Windows (x64, x86)

🎯 Quick Start

1. Create a configuration file (ai-rulez.yaml):

metadata:
  name: "My AI Rules" 
  version: "1.0.0"

rules:
  - name: "Code Style"
    priority: 10
    content: |
      - Use TypeScript strict mode
      - Prefer functional components
      - Use meaningful variable names

  - name: "Testing"
    priority: 5
    content: |
      - Write unit tests for all functions
      - Use describe/it pattern  
      - Aim for 80% code coverage

outputs:
  - file: "CLAUDE.md"
    template: "claude"
  - file: ".cursorrules"
    template: "cursor"
  - file: ".windsurfrules"
    template: "windsurf"

1. Generate configuration files:

ai-rulez generate

This creates CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, and .windsurfrules with your rules properly formatted for each AI assistant.

Alternative: Initialize from template

# Initialize with basic template
ai-rulez init "My Project"

# With specific templates
ai-rulez init --template react "My React App"
ai-rulez init --template typescript "My TS Project"

Configuration Format

Basic Example

$schema: https://github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez/schema/ai-rules-v1.schema.json

metadata:
  name: "My Project"
  version: "1.0.0"
  description: "Project coding standards"

outputs:
  - file: "claude.md"
  - file: ".cursorrules"
  - file: ".windsurfrules"

rules:
  - name: "Code Quality"
    priority: 10  # Higher number = higher priority
    content: |
      - Write clean, maintainable code
      - Follow SOLID principles
      - Add meaningful comments

  - name: "Testing"
    priority: 5
    content: "Write unit tests for all new features"

With Sections and Templates

metadata:
  name: "Advanced Project"

sections:
  - title: "Introduction"
    priority: 100  # Appears first
    content: |
      # Project Guidelines
      
      Welcome! This document outlines our coding standards.

outputs:
  - file: "GUIDELINES.md"
    template: |
      # {{.ProjectName}} Guidelines
      
      {{range .AllContent}}
      {{if .IsRule}}## {{.Title}} (Priority: {{.Priority}})
      {{.Content}}
      {{else}}{{.Content}}{{end}}
      {{end}}
  
  - file: "rules/detailed.md"
    template: "@templates/custom.tmpl"  # File reference

rules:
  - name: "API Design"
    priority: 10
    content: "Follow RESTful conventions"

sections:
  - title: "Contributing"
    priority: 1  # Appears last
    content: |
      ## How to Contribute
      
      Please read our contribution guidelines...

Configuration Schema

• metadata: Project information

  • name (required): Project name
  • version: Semantic version
  • description: Project description

• outputs (required): Output file definitions

  • file: Output file path (relative to config)
  • template: Template to use (optional)
    • Built-in: "default", "documentation"
    • File reference: "@path/to/template.tmpl"
    • Inline: Multi-line template string

• rules: Coding rules and guidelines

  • id: Optional unique identifier for precise overriding
  • name (required): Rule identifier
  • priority: Integer ≥ 1 (default: 1)
  • content (required): Rule description

• sections: Informative text blocks

  • id: Optional unique identifier for precise overriding
  • title (required): Section identifier
  • priority: Integer ≥ 1 (default: 1)
  • content (required): Markdown content (rendered as-is)

• includes: External rule files to include

  • Paths relative to config file
  • Supports nested includes
  • Circular dependencies detected

Local Configuration Overrides

AI Rulez supports local configuration overrides through .local.yaml files that allow developers to customize shared configurations without affecting the committed config:

• Local files: {config-name}.local.yaml (e.g., ai-rulez.local.yaml)

  • Automatically loaded if present
  • Highest precedence (overrides main config)
  • Should be added to .gitignore
  • Uses ID-based overriding for precise control

• Rule/Section IDs: Optional id field for rules and sections

  • Enables precise overriding by ID instead of name
  • Backward compatible (name-based merging still works)

User Rules vs. Coding Rules

When creating AI rules, it's important to distinguish between two types of instructions:

• Coding Rules: Technical guidelines about code quality, architecture, testing, etc.

  • Examples: "Use TypeScript strict mode", "Write unit tests", "Follow REST conventions"
  • Should be in the main configuration file committed to version control

• User Rules: Personal preferences about communication style and interaction

  • Examples: "Be concise in responses", "Use casual tone", "Address me as 'Chief'", "Always explain your reasoning"
  • Perfect for .local.yaml files as they're personal and shouldn't affect the whole team
  • Allow individual developers to customize AI behavior without impacting others

Example:

Main config (ai-rulez.yaml):

rules:
  - id: "code-style"
    name: "Code Style"
    content: "Use consistent formatting"
  - name: "Testing"
    content: "Write comprehensive tests"

Local overrides (ai-rulez.local.yaml):

rules:
  - id: "code-style"  # Same ID = override
    name: "Code Style (Local)"
    priority: 15
    content: "LOCAL: Use 2 spaces, semicolons required"
  - name: "Communication Style"
    content: "Be concise and direct. Address me as 'Boss'. Always ask for clarification before making assumptions."
  - name: "Response Format"
    content: "Provide code examples for every suggestion. Use bullet points for lists."

Sorting and Output Order

All content (rules and sections) uses dual sorting:

1. Primary: By priority (descending) - higher numbers first
2. Secondary: By title/name (ascending) - alphabetical order

This ensures consistent, predictable output across regenerations.

Gitignore Integration

AI Rulez can automatically update .gitignore files to include generated output files when using the --update-gitignore flag with the generate command:

# Update .gitignore with generated files
ai-rulez generate --update-gitignore

# Works with recursive mode too
ai-rulez generate --recursive --update-gitignore

How it works:

• Finds the .gitignore file in the same directory as each configuration file
• Adds output file names (e.g., CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) if they're not already ignored
• Creates a new .gitignore file if one doesn't exist
• Adds a comment section to group AI-generated files
• Skips files that are already covered by existing patterns (e.g., *.md would cover CLAUDE.md)

Example .gitignore addition:

# AI Rules generated files
CLAUDE.md
.cursorrules
.windsurfrules

This feature is especially useful in team environments where you want to ensure generated files don't get committed to version control.

AI-First Design: Generated File Headers

AI Rulez automatically adds comprehensive headers to all generated files that clearly communicate to both AI assistants and developers that the files are generated and should not be edited directly:

<!-- 
🤖 GENERATED FILE - DO NOT EDIT DIRECTLY
===========================================

This file was automatically generated by ai-rulez from ai-rulez.yaml.

⚠️  IMPORTANT FOR AI ASSISTANTS AND DEVELOPERS:
- DO NOT modify this file directly
- DO NOT add, remove, or change rules in this file
- Changes made here will be OVERWRITTEN on next generation

✅ TO UPDATE RULES:
1. Edit the source configuration: ai-rulez.yaml
2. Regenerate this file: ai-rulez generate
3. The updated CLAUDE.md will be created automatically

📝 Generated: 2025-07-06 00:06:15
📁 Source: ai-rulez.yaml
🎯 Target: CLAUDE.md
📊 Content: 7 rules, 0 sections

Learn more: https://github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez
===========================================
-->

Key Features:

• AI Assistant Targeted: Clear, structured instructions that AI agents can easily parse and understand
• Actionable Guidance: Specific steps on how to properly update rules
• File Metadata: Shows source config, target file, generation time, and content statistics
• Consistent Format: Uses HTML comments that work across all output formats (Markdown, text files, etc.)

This ensures that AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and others understand that these are generated files and will guide users to edit the source configuration instead of the generated output.

🛠️ Commands

Core Commands

# Generate all configuration files
ai-rulez generate

# Validate configuration
ai-rulez validate

# Generate recursively in subdirectories  
ai-rulez generate --recursive

# Preview output without writing files
ai-rulez generate --dry-run

# Update .gitignore files with generated output files
ai-rulez generate --update-gitignore

# Initialize new project
ai-rulez init "My Project"

# Start MCP server for AI assistant integration
ai-rulez mcp

# Show version
ai-rulez version

# Show help
ai-rulez --help

Managing Rules, Sections, and Outputs

# Add new rule
ai-rulez add rule "Testing Standards" --priority 8

# Add new section  
ai-rulez add section "Architecture Guidelines" --priority 10

# Add new output file
ai-rulez add output "docs/AI_RULES.md" --template documentation

# Update existing rule
ai-rulez update rule "Testing Standards" --content "Write comprehensive tests"

# Update existing section
ai-rulez update section "Architecture Guidelines" --priority 15

# Update output template
ai-rulez update output "docs/AI_RULES.md" --template custom

# Delete rule
ai-rulez delete rule "Old Rule"

# Delete section
ai-rulez delete section "Deprecated Section"

# Delete output
ai-rulez delete output "unused-file.md"

🤖 MCP Server Integration

ai-rulez includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that allows AI assistants like Claude Desktop to interact with your AI rules configuration directly.

Starting the MCP Server

ai-rulez mcp

This starts the MCP server in stdio mode, which can be configured in your AI assistant's MCP settings.

Available MCP Tools

The MCP server exposes these tools:

• get_rules: Retrieve rules with filtering by priority and name
• get_sections: Get documentation sections from configuration
• generate_output: Generate AI rules files with gitignore support
• validate_config: Validate configuration files
• list_templates: List available project templates
• add_rule/section/output: Add new items to configuration
• update_rule/section/output: Update existing items
• delete_rule/section/output: Remove items from configuration

Configuring Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-rulez": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["ai-rulez", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or if you have ai-rulez installed globally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-rulez": {
      "command": "ai-rulez",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

This enables Claude to directly manage your AI rules, generate files, and validate configurations without leaving the chat interface.

🎨 Template Variables

Variable	Type	Description
{{.ProjectName}}	string	Project name
{{.Version}}	string	Version string
{{.Description}}	string	Project description
{{.Rules}}	[]Rule	Rules array (sorted)
{{.Sections}}	[]Section	Sections array (sorted)
{{.AllContent}}	[]ContentItem	Combined rules + sections (sorted)
{{.Timestamp}}	time.Time	Generation timestamp
{{.RuleCount}}	int	Number of rules
{{.SectionCount}}	int	Number of sections

📚 Command Reference

ai-rulez init [project-name]

Initialize a new configuration file.

Options:

• --template, -t: Template to use (basic, react, typescript)

ai-rulez generate [config-file]

Generate output files from configuration. Files are only written if content changes.

Config File Discovery:

• Without arguments: Searches for .ai-rulez.yaml or ai-rulez.yaml starting from current directory, traversing upward to find the first config file
• With --recursive flag: Finds and processes all config files in the current directory tree
• With explicit path: Uses the specified config file

Options:

• --recursive, -r: Recursively find and process all ai-rulez configuration files
• --dry-run: Validate configuration and show what would be generated without writing files
• --update-gitignore: Update .gitignore files to include generated output files

ai-rulez validate [config-file]

Validate configuration file against schema.

ai-rulez mcp

Start MCP server for AI assistant integration. Runs in stdio mode for communication with MCP-compatible tools.

ai-rulez add

Add new items to configuration. Has three subcommands:

ai-rulez add rule [name]

Add a new rule to the configuration.

Options:

• --priority, -p: Priority level (1-10, default: 5)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez add section [title]

Add a new documentation section to the configuration.

Options:

• --priority, -p: Priority level (default: 5)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez add output [filename]

Add a new output file to the configuration.

Options:

• --template, -t: Template to use for the output (optional)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez update

Update existing items in configuration. Has three subcommands:

ai-rulez update rule [name]

Update an existing rule's content or priority.

Options:

• --content: New content for the rule (optional, will prompt if not provided)
• --priority, -p: New priority level (optional)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez update section [title]

Update an existing section's content or priority.

Options:

• --content: New content for the section (optional, will prompt if not provided)
• --priority, -p: New priority level (optional)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez update output [filename]

Update an output file's template.

Options:

• --template, -t: New template for the output (required)
• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez delete

Delete items from configuration. Has three subcommands:

ai-rulez delete rule [name]

Delete a rule from the configuration.

Options:

• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez delete section [title]

Delete a section from the configuration.

Options:

• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez delete output [filename]

Delete an output file from the configuration.

Options:

• --config, -c: Config file path (auto-discover if not provided)

ai-rulez version

Print the version of ai-rulez.

Editor Support

Add the schema reference to your YAML files for:

• Auto-completion
• Inline documentation
• Real-time validation

$schema: https://github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez/schema/ai-rules-v1.schema.json

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22+
• Task (taskfile.dev)
• golangci-lint v2
• lefthook (for git hooks)

Setup

go mod download
task install-tools
lefthook install

Common Tasks

task test      # Run tests
task lint      # Run linting
task fmt       # Format code
task build     # Build binary

Project Structure

ai-rulez/
├── cmd/ai-rulez/     # CLI commands
├── internal/         # Internal packages
│   ├── config/       # Configuration and validation
│   ├── generator/    # Output generation
│   └── templates/    # Template rendering
├── schema/           # JSON Schema definitions
├── examples/         # Example configurations
└── testing/          # Test scenarios and data

Pre-commit Hooks

ai-rulez can be integrated with git pre-commit hooks to automatically validate or generate files when committing changes.

Using pre-commit

Add to your .pre-commit-config.yaml:

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez
    rev: v1.0.0  # Use the latest version
    hooks:
      # Validate configuration only (recommended for most projects)
      - id: ai-rulez-validate
      
      # Or generate files automatically on commit
      - id: ai-rulez-generate
      
      # Or process all config files recursively
      - id: ai-rulez-recursive

Hook Options:

• ai-rulez-validate: Validates configuration files using --dry-run mode
• ai-rulez-generate: Generates output files from configuration
• ai-rulez-recursive: Processes all ai-rulez config files in the repository

Using lefthook

Add to your lefthook.yml:

pre-commit:
  commands:
    ai-rulez:
      glob: "{.ai-rulez.yaml,ai-rulez.yaml}"
      run: ai-rulez generate --dry-run
      
    # Or to auto-generate files:
    # ai-rulez:
    #   glob: "{.ai-rulez.yaml,ai-rulez.yaml}"
    #   run: ai-rulez generate && git add .

Manual Setup

For other git hook managers or manual setup:

# Validate only (recommended)
ai-rulez generate --dry-run

# Generate and stage files
ai-rulez generate && git add .

# Process all configs recursively
ai-rulez generate --recursive

Performance Notes:

• Use --dry-run for validation-only mode (fastest)
• The tool uses incremental generation (only writes when content changes)
• Consider using file glob patterns to only run when config files change

🤝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE

🔗 Links

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Goldziher/ai-rulez
• Documentation: README
• Issues: Bug Reports & Feature Requests
• Releases: GitHub Releases
• PyPI Package: https://pypi.org/project/ai-rulez/
• npm Package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/ai-rulez
• JSON Schema: ai-rules-v1.schema.json

---

Performance Note: The Python and npm packages are lightweight wrappers around the Go binary. The actual tool is written in Go for maximum performance, fast startup times, and efficient cross-platform binary distribution.