Writing rules

Rules are Markdown files in src/apothem/rules/ with .md extension.

Rule frontmatter

---
name: "..."
description: "..."
pathFilter: ""            # empty string for always-on; a glob for path-filtered
alwaysApply: true         # true for always-on; false for path-filtered
---

Rule scopes

A rule's scope is set by two frontmatter fields, alwaysApply and pathFilter:

`alwaysApply`	`pathFilter`	When applied
`true`	`""` (empty)	Always-on: every session, every file
`false`	a glob like `"*/.py"`	Path-filtered: only when the active file matches the glob

Example rule

---
name: "python-conventions"
description: "Python style conventions for this project"
pathFilter: "**/*.py"
alwaysApply: false
---

# Python conventions

- Use type annotations on all public functions.
- Maximum line length: 88 characters.
- Prefer explicit over implicit.

Applying rules to harnesses

After writing a rule, update each installed harness adapter. Run apothem harnesses list to see the installed set, then call update once per harness:

apothem update --harness claude-code
apothem update --harness cursor

Rule validation

python -m apothem.conformity.gate --check frontmatter