AI Factory Rules - Project Conventions

Shared project skill-context

Before mode routing or work, read existing files relative to the current project root in this order (reuse them if already loaded):

1. .ai-factory/skill-context/global-skill-context.md, all bundled skills.
2. .ai-factory/skill-context/aif-rules/SKILL.md, this skill.

Missing files are skipped; an existing unreadable file stops dependent work with its path. Precedence: individual > build (when applicable) > global > skill defaults; retain non-conflicting instructions and check all outputs against the effective rules. These layers customize workflow; they do not replace the project's rules/architecture hierarchy or relax explicit requirements, ownership, scope, safety/privacy, validation, or approval boundaries. Report conflicts with those boundaries instead of overriding them. global is a project-local layer, not home-directory configuration. Custom/extension skills do not automatically use it.

Add short, actionable rules and conventions for the current project. Rules are saved to the configured RULES.md artifact (default: .ai-factory/RULES.md) and automatically loaded by /aif-implement before task execution.

Rules Hierarchy

AI Factory supports a three-level rules hierarchy:

1. RULES.md - Axioms (universal project rules)

   • Managed by this skill (/aif-rules)
   • Short, flat list of hard requirements
   • Loaded by all skills

2. rules/base.md - Project-specific base conventions

   • Created by /aif during project setup
   • Naming conventions, module boundaries, error handling patterns
   • Auto-detected from codebase analysis

3. rules.<area> - Area-specific conventions

   • Created by this skill (Mode C)
   • Registered in .ai-factory/config.yaml as named keys such as rules.api
   • Area-specific patterns and constraints

Priority: More specific rules win. rules.<area> > rules/base.md > RULES.md

Workflow

Step 0: Load Config