code-standards

AI Code Standards

A Claude Code plugin that generates tailored engineering standards files (CLAUDE.md) for any project. Instead of copy-pasting rules or maintaining a monolithic config, it composes modular, opinionated fragments based on your stack, domain, team size, and compliance requirements.

Problem: AI coding assistants produce better code when given clear project-specific rules — but writing and maintaining those rules is tedious, error-prone, and rarely done well.

Solution: Auto-detect your stack, ask a short questionnaire, and assemble a comprehensive standards file from battle-tested fragments covering testing, security, code review, git hygiene, and more.

How It Works

1. Auto-detects your stack from manifest files (package.json, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.toml, etc.)
2. Asks a short questionnaire for what can't be inferred (team size, domain, compliance needs)
3. Composes modular fragments into a single, tailored standards file
4. Merges non-destructively with any existing standards — never overwrites your additions

Supported Stacks

Language	Build Tool	Testing Fragment
Java	Gradle	JaCoCo coverage, SpotBugs, OWASP dependency check
Go	go build	go test, cargo-llvm-cov/tarpaulin, gosec, govulncheck
Python	pip	pytest, coverage.py, bandit, pip-audit, mypy
TypeScript/JavaScript	npm	Vitest/Jest, c8/v8, eslint-plugin-security
Rust	cargo	cargo test, cargo-llvm-cov/tarpaulin, clippy, cargo audit

Frontend Frameworks

Framework	Testing Fragment
React / Next.js	React Testing Library, MSW, Storybook
Vue / Nuxt	Vue Test Utils, Testing Library for Vue, Pinia, Storybook
Shared	Playwright E2E, visual regression, axe-core a11y, Lighthouse CI

Multi-Stack Projects

Full-stack projects (e.g., Go + React, Java + Vue) are fully supported. Each stack gets its own testing and SAST fragments, and the generated file covers both.

What's Included

Every generated standards file includes these sections:

Section	What it covers
Honesty & Uncertainty	No fabrication, verify before answering, admit uncertainty
Boundaries	Hard "never do" rules — destructive ops, security, scope creep, dependency safety
Plan, Act, Reflect	When to plan first, approval gates, post-action sanity check
Testing Standards	Coverage gates, testing types, per-stack commands and config
Code Review Gate	Self-review checklist, AI code review, security scan, peer review
Security Scanning	Secrets detection, SAST, SCA, input validation, auth rules
Git Hygiene	Conventional Commits, atomic commits, branch strategy, PR rules
Definition of Done	Checklist that blocks "done" until all gates pass

Optional Sections (based on your inputs)

Section	When included
Regulated Data	PII, PHI, PCI, or government data handling
Accessibility	UI-facing projects (WCAG 2.1 AA)
Data Privacy	Projects handling PII or PHI
Solo Guardrails	Relaxed process rules for solo developers
Team Guardrails	Branch protection, CODEOWNERS, communication rules

Installation

Claude Code (via marketplace)

Two-step install inside Claude Code — add the marketplace, then install the plugin:

/plugin marketplace add brandonm/ai-code-standards
/plugin install code-standards@code-standards

The CLI equivalent (outside an interactive session) is:

claude plugin marketplace add brandonm/ai-code-standards
claude plugin install code-standards@code-standards

Manual (standalone skill, no plugin install)

If you'd rather just drop the skill into your ~/.claude/skills/ directory and skip the plugin namespace:

git clone https://github.com/brandonm/ai-code-standards.git
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r ai-code-standards/skills/generating-code-standards ~/.claude/skills/generating-code-standards

Standalone, the skill is available as /generating-code-standards (no plugin prefix).

Local development

To test the plugin without installing, run Claude Code with --plugin-dir:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/ai-code-standards

Usage

Once installed as a plugin, invoke the skill in Claude Code:

/code-standards:generating-code-standards

Or ask naturally — the description triggers it without typing the slash command:

"Generate engineering standards for this project" "Create a CLAUDE.md for this repo" "Set up project standards"

The skill will:

1. Auto-detect your stack from manifest files
2. Ask you to confirm and fill in missing details
3. Generate a tailored standards file
4. Show you the output for review before writing

Project Structure