What is agent-rules?

steipete/agent-rules — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

★ 5,692ShellAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((agent-rules))
    What it is
      Rule files
      Knowledge files
      Behavior guides
    Tools covered
      Cursor
      Claude Code
      LLMs
    Status
      Mid-2025 era
      Author archived it
      Successor exists
    Audience
      Developers
      AI tool users

mindmap root((agent-rules)) What it is Rule files Knowledge files Behavior guides Tools covered Cursor Claude Code LLMs Status Mid-2025 era Author archived it Successor exists Audience Developers AI tool users

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Copy the rule files into your project to give AI coding assistants consistent behavior guidelines.

USE CASE 2

Use as a starting point for writing your own agent instruction files for Claude Code or Cursor.

What is it built with?

Shell

How does it compare?

	steipete/agent-rules	gliderlabs/docker-alpine	simoneavogadro/android-reverse-engineering-skill
Stars	5,692	5,705	5,677
Language	Shell	Shell	Shell
Setup difficulty	easy	easy	moderate
Complexity	1/5	1/5	3/5
Audience	developer	ops devops	developer

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

The repository is archived and no longer actively maintained, the author recommends their newer agent-scripts project.

No license information is provided in the repository.

So what is it?

This repository contains a set of rules and knowledge files designed to help AI coding assistants work more consistently. The files were put together by the author during a period when they were actively using Cursor as their main AI-assisted development tool. The idea was that feeding specific instructions and guidelines to the AI would help it follow predictable patterns, make fewer errors, and better match the way the author wanted to work. The content is tagged with topics including agent rules, Claude Code, Cursor, and large language models, which suggests the material covers instructions that can be handed to AI tools to shape their behavior. Rules of this kind can tell an AI assistant how to name variables, when to ask for clarification, how to structure commits, or which parts of a codebase to leave alone. The author has been transparent in the README: this work is from mid-2025 and reflects the workflows of that time. They have since moved to a newer approach and directed readers to a successor project. So while the principles here may still be useful for anyone building out their own AI coding instructions, this collection should be treated as historical rather than actively maintained. For developers curious about how to write effective rules for AI coding tools, browsing this repository can offer a starting point. The 5,692 GitHub stars suggest many people found it useful during the period it was active. Anyone looking to set up rule files for Claude Code or Cursor today would likely want to start here and then check the author's current project for more recent patterns.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm using Claude Code on a TypeScript project. Help me write a CLAUDE.md file based on the approach in steipete/agent-rules that tells the AI to follow consistent coding conventions and avoid common mistakes.

Prompt 2

What kinds of rules are most useful to give an AI coding assistant to reduce mistakes? Help me write 10 rules inspired by the patterns in steipete/agent-rules.

Prompt 3

I'm setting up Cursor for a team project. Help me write a .cursorrules file that sets coding standards and tells the AI when to ask for clarification instead of guessing.

Frequently asked questions