Agent Instruction

agent-instruction

Manage AI instruction files in monorepos during development sessions. This skill bridges the gap between discovering best practices during development and codifying them as durable instructions.

Use the agent-instruction CLI to add rules, build instruction files, and list existing rules.

Requires: agent-instruction CLI installed and in PATH (go install github.com/validkeys/agent-instruction@latest)

Commands

add_rule

Add a new instruction rule to a rule file.

agent-instruction add "[rule content]" --title "[title]" --rule="[rule-file]"

• content (required): The instruction rule text
• --title (optional): Heading for the rule section
• --rule (optional): Target rule file name (prompts interactively if omitted)

Examples:

agent-instruction add "Always use table-driven tests in Go" --title="Testing Standards" --rule="testing"
agent-instruction add "Never use global variables" --title="Code Standards"
agent-instruction add "Validate all user input before database queries" --rule="security"

build

Generate or update instruction files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md) from all rule configurations.

agent-instruction build

list

Display all available rule files and their contents.

agent-instruction list [--verbose]

• --verbose (optional): Show full rule content with formatting

Best Practices

• Check before adding: Run agent-instruction list --verbose before adding a rule to avoid duplicates.
• Build after changes: After adding multiple rules, run agent-instruction build to propagate changes to CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md.
• Use descriptive titles: Clear, specific titles make rules easy to find later.
• Group related rules: Use category-named rule files — e.g., testing.json, security.json, golang.json, global.json.
• When to add rules: When the user says "remember this for next time", when a recurring mistake is found, or when a new standard is established.

Notes

This skill requires the agent-instruction CLI to be installed and available in PATH. The CLI manages rule files in the .agent-instruction/ directory and builds instruction files at the repository root.