Apothem vs raw Trae config

Trae reads rules from a .trae/rules/ directory whose vendor anchors are project_rules.md and user_rules.md. Apothem's trae adapter renders a dedicated apothem-rules.md file in that directory from the shared profile. This page contrasts hand-maintaining that config against managing it with Apothem.

Effort comparison

What Apothem manages

The trae adapter renders the shared rules into a dedicated apothem-rules.md file under .trae/rules/ and leaves the operator-owned project_rules.md and user_rules.md anchors untouched. Trae has no PreToolUse hook, so guardrail intent lives in the rule prose rather than a tool-call interception point. Every change to the shared rules re-renders the file on the next apothem update.

Migration path

1. Run apothem profile init to create the shared profile if you have not yet.
2. Move the rules from your existing .trae/rules/ files into the shared corpus.
3. Run apothem install --harness trae to render the apothem-rules.md file.
4. Run apothem verify --harness trae to confirm the config landed.
5. Use apothem update --harness trae for every later change.

Read next

• Trae adapter reference
• Comparison overview