AI Coding Rules — Guides
Plain-English explanations of what AI coding rules files do, how to write good ones, and how to navigate the differences between Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and the rest.
What is a Cursor rules file?
5 min readPlain-English explanation of .cursorrules and .cursor/rules/*.mdc — what Cursor reads, when, and what to put in it.
What is CLAUDE.md? Complete guide for Claude Code
6 min readHow Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, how nested files are merged in monorepos, and what makes a good one.
How to write effective AI coding rules
8 min readOpinionated guide: what separates a good rules file from a bad one, with concrete examples and anti-patterns.
Cursor rules vs Claude.md vs Copilot instructions: which AI tool format wins?
7 min readCompares the rules-file conventions of every major AI coding assistant — and explains why the format wars don't actually matter much.
10 mistakes to avoid in your AI rules file
8 min readCommon failure modes — vague platitudes, version drift, monorepo confusion, leaked secrets — and how to fix each one.
How to use AI rules in a monorepo
6 min readPractical guide to root-level vs package-level rules, Claude's nested-file behavior, Cursor's glob scoping, and Copilot's single-file constraint.