Rulebound

Quick Start

Get Rulebound enforcing your engineering standards in 5 minutes.

1. Install

npm install -g rulebound
# or
pnpm add -g rulebound

2. Initialize

Run init in your project root. This creates .rulebound/rules/ with a starter rule and installs a pre-commit hook.

cd your-project
rulebound init

To include example rules:

rulebound init --examples

Skip the pre-commit hook with rulebound init --no-hook.

3. Add a Rule

Create a markdown file in .rulebound/rules/. Use YAML front matter for metadata:

---
title: No Hardcoded Secrets
category: security
severity: error
modality: must
tags: [secrets, credentials]
stack: [typescript, javascript]
scope: [backend, api]
---

# No Hardcoded Secrets

API keys, passwords, and tokens must never be committed to source code.

## Rules

- Use environment variables for all secrets
- Never commit .env files
- Use a secrets manager in production

4. Validate a Plan

Check an implementation plan against your rules:

rulebound validate --plan "Add a payment endpoint that stores API keys in config.ts"

Or validate from a file:

rulebound validate --file plan.md

5. Generate Agent Configs

Export your rules to agent-specific config files:

# Generate for all agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot)
rulebound generate

# Generate for a specific agent
rulebound generate --agent claude-code

This creates:

  • CLAUDE.md for Claude Code
  • .cursor/rules.md for Cursor
  • .github/copilot-instructions.md for GitHub Copilot

6. Check Your Diff

Before committing, validate your changes:

rulebound diff

The pre-commit hook does this automatically if installed.

Next Steps