Rules¶

Rules are plain Markdown files whose contents are injected verbatim into every agent's system prompt. Use them for project conventions that must always apply.

Locations¶

The project .pegg/ directory is created automatically at startup. Only .md files directly inside a rules directory are read; subdirectories are ignored. Files are sorted by name within each directory, and empty files are skipped.

How rules are injected¶

Rules are appended to the end of the system prompt, after the agent identity, the environment block, the skills list, and AGENTS.md:

# Rules

WARNING: You MUST strictly follow these rules. Violation of these rules is unacceptable.

<contents of global rules, alphabetically>

<contents of project rules, alphabetically>

Global rules are always followed by project rules. There is no override or merge logic — both are included, so avoid contradictions between them.

Every built-in agent receives the same rules.

Writing rules¶

Keep rules short, concrete, and actionable. A rule file can contain any Markdown:

# Testing rules

- Run `make test` before reporting a task complete.
- Never modify files under `testdata/`.
- Prefer table-driven tests for new Go code.

# Global style

- Never add comments unless the code cannot be understood without them.
- Use the project's existing formatting and linting tools.
- Do not commit changes unless explicitly asked.

Creating rules with the agent¶

The built-in /rule skill lets you create or update rules through a conversation instead of editing files by hand:

• Explicit content — tell Pegg the rule and it writes it, e.g. "/rule: never commit .env files".
• Unknown content — if you don't say what the rule should be, the agent asks you with the askuserquestion tool.
• Agent-proposed — you can also ask Pegg to draft a rule from the conversation (e.g. "/rule: save a rule based on our conversation"); it scans for preferences and corrections you repeated and presents candidates for your approval before writing anything.

The agent picks the scope: project rules default to <project>/.pegg/rules/, global rules to ~/.pegg/rules/, and it asks when the scope is unclear. New rules are injected into subsequent conversations without a restart.

Rules vs. AGENTS.md¶

Pegg reads AGENTS.md from the current working directory and injects it as Project Instructions, before the rules section. The two complement each other:

The /init skill generates an AGENTS.md for you. See Commands.

Viewing rules¶

Open Settings with Ctrl+P and switch to the Rules tab. It lists every loaded rule file with a global or project label. The list is read-only; edit the files directly, or use the /rule skill, to change them.