Consolidate Rules into .claude/rules/

Decisions

• Pending: Which rules belong in .claude/rules/ (global) vs CLAUDE.md?
• Pending: Keep path-scoped rules as a pattern for later, or global-only?

User Tasks

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Summary

Move previously path-scoped rules into .claude/rules/ as global rules, keeping all .claude/ config in the project root.

Problem / Motivation

Two path-scoped rule files existed (vault/10_features/.claude/rules and src/.claude/rules) containing valuable conventions for feature requests and Python coding. They were removed because the user wants a single .claude/ folder at the project root. The knowledge in those files is now unloaded.

Content to Restore

Feature request rules (was vault/10_features/.claude/rules)

• Naming: FR-XXX-short-description.md (lowercase, hyphens). Increment from highest existing FR number.
• Lifecycle stages: ideas → new → planned → in-progress → done
• Gates: new → planned requires user approval. Never implement without approval.
• Dashboard sync on stage changes
• Open questions tracked in decision log
• Design doc extraction to vault/00_system/designs/
• Template usage: copy _templates/feature-request.md

Coding standards (was src/.claude/rules)

• Read existing code before modifying. Check decision log before architectural decisions.
• Stack: Python 3.12+, uv, ruff, pytest, mypy (strict)
• Monorepo layout: src/<package>/ with own pyproject.toml
• Code style: type hints on public functions, absolute imports, no bare except, dataclasses/Pydantic over dicts
• Testing: tests/ at root, pytest fixtures, parametrize, reproducing tests for bugs
• Post-change: update FR status + dashboards, write changelog

Proposed Solution

Create global rule files in .claude/rules/:

• .claude/rules/feature-rules.md — feature request conventions
• .claude/rules/coding-standards.md — Python coding standards

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Open Questions

1. Global vs CLAUDE.md

Question: Should these be .claude/rules/ files or sections in CLAUDE.md?

Option	Description
A) .claude/rules/ files	Keeps CLAUDE.md concise, rules auto-load, easy to manage separately
B) CLAUDE.md sections	Everything in one place, but bloats the master file

Recommendation: Option A — CLAUDE.md stays high-level, rules handle the details.

Decision:

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Phase Overview

Phase	Description	Status
Phase 1	Create global rule files from saved content	—

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Phase 1: Create Global Rules —

Goal: Restore the removed rules as global rules in .claude/rules/.

File / Feature	Details	Owner	Status
.claude/rules/feature-rules.md	Feature request naming, lifecycle, gates	opus	—
.claude/rules/coding-standards.md	Python coding standards, testing, stack	opus	—
.claude/rules/README.md	Update with new rule files	opus	—

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Test

Manual tests

Test	Expected	Owner	Actual	Last
Rules load in new session	Both rule files appear in context	mv	pending	-
No .claude/ folders outside project root	Only Opus/.claude/ exists	opus	pending	-

AI-verified tests

Scenario	Expected behavior	Verification method
…	…	…

E2E tests

Scenario	Assertion
…	…

Integration tests

Component	Coverage
…	…

Unit tests

Component	Tests	Coverage
…	…	…

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History

Date	Event	Details
2026-03-12	Created	Removed path-scoped rules, saved content for restoration

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References

• .claude/rules/README.md
• FR-008 (Design Review Workflow) — design gate rule to be included