AI-Rulez Documentation¶

AI-Rulez is a CLI tool for managing AI assistant configurations across multiple tools.

Write your AI instructions once in a single configuration and generate tool-specific outputs for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini, and others.

Core Concepts¶

Directory-Based Configuration¶

Your configuration lives in .ai-rulez/ with organized subdirectories: - rules/: Mandatory constraints and standards - context/: Reference documentation and architecture - skills/: Specialized AI prompts for specific roles - domains/: Team or subsystem-specific content - config.yaml: Main configuration (presets, profiles)

Presets¶

Presets define how content is formatted and where it's output for different tools. Built-in presets include: - claude → generates CLAUDE.md - cursor → generates .cursor/rules/ - gemini → generates GEMINI.md - copilot → generates .github/copilot-instructions.md - windsurf → generates .windsurf/rules/ - And many others...

Profiles¶

Profiles let different teams generate customized outputs. Each profile specifies which domains to include:

profiles:
  full: [backend, frontend, qa]
  backend: [backend, qa]
  frontend: [frontend, qa]

Getting Started¶

Installation Guide: Install AI-Rulez and get started
Getting Started Guide: 5-minute quick start
Configuration Reference: Complete guide to all config options

Using AI-Rulez¶

CLI Reference: All commands and flags
Includes System: Reusing configurations across projects
Installed Skills: Installing skills from external repositories
Domains & Profiles: Organizing by team or subsystem
Custom Presets: Creating custom output formats

Advanced Topics¶

MCP Server: Exposing configuration to AI assistants
Examples: Real-world configuration examples
Schema Reference: JSON schema details
Best Practices: Patterns for large projects

Typical Workflow¶

Initialize your project:
```
ai-rulez init "my-project"
```
Add content to .ai-rulez/:
Write rules in rules/
Add context in context/
Create skills in skills/
Generate outputs:
```
ai-rulez generate
```

Commit the results:

git add .ai-rulez/ CLAUDE.md .cursor/ GEMINI.md
git commit -m "docs: update AI assistant guidelines"

Key Features¶

Single source of truth for all AI tool configurations
Domain scoping to organize rules by team or subsystem
Profile-based customization for different contexts
Modular structure to reduce merge conflicts
Built-in presets for 19+ AI tools
Custom presets for any tool and format
Installed skills from external repositories
Remote includes for sharing rules across projects
MCP integration for programmatic access
Support for monorepos and multi-team projects

Project Structure¶

After initialization, your project looks like:

project-root/
├── .ai-rulez/
│   ├── config.yaml           # Main configuration
│   ├── rules/                # Base rules (all profiles)
│   ├── context/              # Reference docs (all profiles)
│   ├── skills/               # AI skills (all profiles)
│   ├── agents/               # Agent prompt files (all profiles)
│   └── domains/              # Team-specific content
│       ├── backend/
│       └── frontend/
├── CLAUDE.md                 # Generated for Claude
├── .cursor/rules/            # Generated for Cursor
├── GEMINI.md                 # Generated for Gemini
└── .github/copilot-instructions.md

Getting Help¶

CLI Help: ai-rulez --help, ai-rulez init --help, etc.
Validation: ai-rulez validate to check your configuration
Examples: Check the Examples section
Issues: Report problems on GitHub

Version¶

This documentation covers AI-Rulez V4 (TOML-based configuration with inline MCP servers and plugins).