/rules — Quick Rule Lookup

/rules — Quick Rule Lookup

Look up rules from both the plugin's working-rules.md and the user's optional user-rules.md.

Runtime Gate (per ADR-094)

Canonical resolution: This is the Claude Code variant. When both plugin-claude-code and plugin-claude-cowork are loaded in the same session (most common in Claude Desktop), bare /rules resolves to this skill — aria-knowledge (Code) is the canonical owner of all 24 dual-port skills per ADR-094 §Part 1. The Cowork variant is namespaced-only: /aria-cowork:rules.

Before Step 0: Check that the Bash tool is available in this session. If Bash is NOT available (you are running in Claude Cowork or another non-Code runtime), surface the following notification and wait for explicit user confirmation:

⚠️ Runtime mismatch — you invoked aria-knowledge's /rules from a non-Code runtime.

Behavior is largely the same in both runtimes (both look up working-rules.md + user-rules.md); for the Cowork-native variant (reads from the attached knowledge folder), use /aria-cowork:rules.

Use /aria-cowork:rules instead? (y / n)

Wait for an explicit reply:

• y / yes — Use the Skill tool to invoke aria-cowork:rules with the same arguments the user provided to this invocation. Do not proceed with this skill's steps; the cowork variant takes over and runs to completion. This is the default-yes path — auto-redirect is the helpful action.
• n / no — Proceed with this (aria-knowledge) variant anyway despite the runtime mismatch. The user has explicitly opted in.
• No response / any other reply — Treat as "do not proceed" and exit cleanly without running either variant.

This gate applies even when mode = auto per ADR-094 §Part 3. Auto mode's "implicit-yes on all gates" rule is suspended for the runtime-mismatch check — auto trusts that the user invoked the correct variant, and this gate enforces that precondition. All other auto-mode gates remain bypassed. The friction cost is now low: on y, the auto-redirect runs the correct variant with the original args.

If Bash is available, proceed to Step 0.

Step 0: Resolve Config

Read ~/.claude/aria-knowledge.local.md and extract knowledge_folder. If the file doesn't exist, stop: "aria-knowledge is not configured. Run /setup to get started."

Set two rules file paths:

• Plugin rules: {knowledge_folder}/rules/working-rules.md
• User rules: {knowledge_folder}/rules/user-rules.md (optional — may not exist for users on pre-v2.8.1 setups)

If the plugin rules file doesn't exist, stop: "No working-rules.md found in your knowledge folder. Run /setup to repair the structure."

If the user rules file doesn't exist, proceed with plugin rules only — this is the normal state for users who haven't added any custom rules.

Step 1: Parse Argument

Check what argument was provided:

• No argument: go to Step 2 (index mode)
• Number with optional U prefix (e.g., 22, U1): go to Step 3 (lookup by identifier)
• Keyword (e.g., dependencies): go to Step 4 (search mode)

Step 2: Index Mode

Read both files. Extract all rule headings (lines matching ### N. [title] or ### UN. [title]). Output a grouped list:

## Working Rules Index

### Plugin Rules (working-rules.md)
1. Scope tasks tightly, but keep the whole system in view
2. Let errors guide where you add context
...

### Your Rules (user-rules.md)
U1. Always run the linter locally before committing
U2. Test data lives in test/fixtures/, not scattered next to tests
...

If user-rules.md doesn't exist, omit the "Your Rules" section entirely. If user-rules.md exists but contains only the shipped sample rules (U1-U4 with the original sample text), note: "(Your Rules section contains only the shipped sample rules — replace them with your own.)"

Step 3: Lookup by Identifier

Read both files (plugin rules always, user rules if present). Find the heading matching the requested identifier:

• Plain number (e.g., 22) → search both files for ### 22. AND ### U22.
• U-prefixed (e.g., U1) → search user-rules.md for ### U1.

For each match, extract the full rule text (heading through next heading or section end) and present it with a clear source label:

## Plugin Rule 22 — Follow the change decision framework
[full rule text]

or

## User Rule U1 — Always run the linter locally before committing
[full rule text]

Collision handling: If the same plain number matches in both files (e.g., user's ### 30. collides with plugin's ### 30.), present BOTH and warn:

"Number collision: Rule 30 exists in both working-rules.md and user-rules.md. Consider renaming the user version with a U prefix to avoid this — see user-rules.md naming convention."

If no match in either file: "Rule [identifier] not found. Plugin has rules 1-[max plugin]; user-rules.md has [list of user rule identifiers, or 'no custom rules' if file missing/empty]. Run /rules to see the full index."

Examples lookup (since v2.14.2): After returning the rule body, also check for a user-authored example in {knowledge_folder}/rules/user-examples.md.

If user-examples.md exists, search for a heading matching ## Rule N (where N is the requested plain-number identifier — examples currently target plugin rules only, not user rules). If found, extract the example body (heading through next ## Rule heading or end of file) and append it to the output as a separate section:

## Plugin Rule 25 — Check secondary impact on every change
[full rule text]

---

## Example (from your user-examples.md)

## Rule 25 — Check secondary impact
[example body — Before / After / etc.]

If user-examples.md doesn't exist, or exists but has no matching ## Rule N heading, omit the example section silently. This is the normal state for users who haven't authored examples for that rule yet.

Multiple examples for the same rule (e.g., two ## Rule 25 headings) are all returned in document order, separated by ---.

Step 4: Search Mode

Read both files. Search rule titles and bodies for the keyword. Return all matching rules with their full text, grouped by source:

## Search results for '[keyword]'

### Plugin Rules
[matching rules from working-rules.md]

### Your Rules
[matching rules from user-rules.md]

If no matches in either: "No rules match '[keyword]'. Run /rules to see the full index."

If matches in only one file, omit the empty section heading.