creating-claude-rules

Rules in .claude/rules/ are modular instructions scoped to specific files via glob patterns. They load automatically with same priority as CLAUDE.md.

• Creating new rules in .claude/rules/
• Fixing rules that use wrong frontmatter (globs instead of paths)
• Migrating Cursor rules to Claude format
• Organizing project-specific conventions

| Field | Claude | Cursor |

|-------|--------|--------|

| Path patterns | paths | globs |

| Always apply | Omit paths | alwaysApply: true |

| Description | Not documented | description |

Path-Scoped Rules

```yaml

---

paths:

- "src/api/*/.ts"

- "tests/*/.test.ts"

---

```

Or single pattern:

```yaml

---

paths: src/*/.{ts,tsx}

---

```

Global Rules

Omit frontmatter entirely - applies to all files:

```markdown

# TypeScript Conventions

Use .js extensions in imports.

```

```yaml

# ❌ WRONG - globs is Cursor format

---

globs:

- "*/.ts"

---

# ✅ CORRECT - Claude uses paths

---

paths:

- "*/.ts"

---

```

```yaml

# ❌ WRONG - alwaysApply is Cursor-only

---

alwaysApply: true

---

# ✅ CORRECT - just omit paths for global rules

# (no frontmatter needed)

```

```yaml

# ❌ WRONG - unquoted patterns

---

paths:

- */.ts

---

# ✅ CORRECT - quote glob patterns

---

paths:

- "*/.ts"

---

```

```

.claude/rules/

├── testing.md # Path-scoped or global

├── typescript.md

└── frontend/ # Subdirectories supported

└── react.md

```

Files discovered recursively. Use subdirectories to organize.

| Pattern | Matches |

|---------|---------|

| */.ts | All .ts files anywhere |

| src/*/ | Everything under src/ |

| *.md | Markdown in root only |

| */.{ts,tsx} | .ts and .tsx files |

| {src,lib}/*/.ts | .ts in src/ or lib/ |

https://code.claude.com/docs/en/memory#modular-rules-with-claude/rules/