Editor Integration

Rulebound provides real-time enforcement in your editor through multiple integration methods: the LSP diagnostics server, watch mode, and generated agent config files.

LSP Server

The Rulebound LSP server provides real-time diagnostics as you type. It analyzes files on save and reports violations as editor warnings and errors.

# Start the LSP server
npx @rulebound/lsp --stdio

Configure your editor to use the server:

VS Code (via custom LSP client or extension):

{
  "rulebound.lsp.enabled": true,
  "rulebound.lsp.path": "npx @rulebound/lsp --stdio"
}

Neovim (via nvim-lspconfig):

require('lspconfig').rulebound.setup({
  cmd = { 'npx', '@rulebound/lsp', '--stdio' },
  filetypes = { 'typescript', 'javascript', 'python', 'java', 'go' },
})

The LSP server provides:

Real-time diagnostics on file open and save
Severity mapping (error, warning, info) to editor diagnostic levels
Rule title and suggested fixes in diagnostic messages

See LSP Server for full documentation.

Watch Mode

For editors without LSP support, use the watch command:

# Run in a terminal alongside your editor
rulebound watch src/ --format json

The JSON output can be parsed by editor plugins or terminal integrations.

Agent Config Files

Generate config files that your AI coding agents read automatically:

rulebound generate --agent claude-code
rulebound generate --agent cursor
rulebound generate --agent copilot

Agent	Config File	How It Works
Claude Code	`CLAUDE.md`	Read automatically when Claude starts
Cursor	`.cursor/rules.md`	Loaded as project-level rules
GitHub Copilot	`.github/copilot-instructions.md`	Loaded as custom instructions

Commit these files to your repo so all team members get consistent AI behavior.

MCP Server

For Claude Code and other MCP-compatible agents, the Rulebound MCP server provides pre-write enforcement:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rulebound": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@rulebound/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The MCP server provides a check_rules tool that agents call before writing code. See MCP Server for details.

Recommended Setup

For the best experience, combine multiple methods:

LSP server for real-time diagnostics in your editor
Generated config files for proactive AI compliance
Pre-commit hook as a final safety net before commit
CI/CD for team-wide enforcement