Pathrule

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Your AI forgets. Pathrule remembers.

The open-source knowledge layer for coding agents. Pathrule keeps what your project has learned as memories, rules and skills scoped to paths in your code, and gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and Windsurf only what the task in front of them needs, before they act.

PathruleBench, 2,000 items: 55% lower cost a chain · 2.7× fewer input tokens · 97% of memory probes passed · the numbers

Website · Docs · Quickstart · Benchmarks · Smarter over time · Changelog

_{Same request, same agent. On the right, Pathrule's hook hands over the three notes filed for apps/web/dashboard before the agent writes a line.}

Works with Claude Code · Codex · Cursor · GitHub Copilot · Windsurf · any MCP client

Quickstart

Node.js 22.14.0 or newer, on macOS, Linux or Windows.

npm i -g @pathrule/cli
pathrule setup --local    # no account: knowledge stays on this machine
pathrule doctor           # see what each agent receives

Restart your agent. From the next session on, it gets the notes for the path it is about to touch, and writes new ones as it works.

Other ways in	Command	Good for
VS Code extension	code --install-extension Pathrule.pathrule-vscode	Knowledge beside the code. Marketplace and Open VSX.
Claude Code / Codex plugin	/plugin marketplace add pathrule/pathrule · codex plugin marketplace add pathrule/pathrule	Installing from inside the agent. Setup shows a plan before it changes anything.
Cursor plugin	Cursor Marketplace → Pathrule	The same hooks, MCP and skills inside Cursor.
Gemini CLI / OpenCode plugin	gemini extensions install https://github.com/pathrule/gemini-cli-extension · opencode plugin @pathrule/opencode --global	The same setup in Gemini CLI and OpenCode.
Any MCP client	npx -y @pathrule/mcp	Agents without a plugin system. Listed in the official MCP Registry.
Local Console	pathrule ui	Browse and edit knowledge on 127.0.0.1. No account.
Remote MCP	claude mcp add --transport http pathrule https://cloud.pathrule.io/mcp	Trying it with nothing installed. No hooks, no local mode.
From source	pnpm install && pnpm cli:bundle	Hacking on Pathrule. See docs/quickstart.md.

Explain it once

Coding agents start every session blank. So the same correction comes back, day after day, agent after agent:

Day	Agent	What you typed
Mon	Claude Code	“use our api client, not fetch”	1st
Tue	Claude Code	“again: api client, not fetch”	2nd
Wed	Codex	“we use the api client.”	3rd
Thu	Cursor	“I told you yesterday. api client.”	4th
Fri	Claude Code	“API CLIENT. NOT FETCH.”	5th

Five sessions, three agents, nothing remembered. With Pathrule you say it once:

1. You fix it once, the way you normally would.
2. Pathrule files it next to the code it is about: a memory on features/, not a line in a file every session has to read.
3. Every agent knows from the next session on, whichever one you open.

Only what matters

A workspace collects hundreds of notes. An agent editing features/orders needs four of them.

Knowledge is matched by path, scope and relevance, then fit to a per-prompt budget. Enforced rules are never cut for space. Whatever does not fit is listed by title, so the agent can ask for it. When a prompt names a function or a type, the hook also points the agent to the file and line where it is defined (JS/TS, Python, Go).

Three kinds of knowledge

Kind	What it holds	Example on features/
Memory	Decisions, gotchas and incidents, in short markdown.	“Use the api client. It handles auth and retries.”
Rule	Constraints the agent must follow, ranked above advice.	“Data loading goes through React Query.”
Skill	Reusable procedures and checklists an agent can run.	“Run the checks before calling it done.”

Three ways in

Channel	When it reaches the agent	Cost
Path-scoped rule files	Claude Code reads Pathrule's own .claude/rules/pathrule/ at session start, each file scoped to its paths. Your CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md are left as they are.	Cached by the client.
Hooks	Before the agent acts: on session start, on each prompt and on file tools. Only new or changed context is sent again.	Budgeted per prompt.
MCP get_context	When the agent asks, at the depth the request needs.	Every MCP client has it.

Why not just CLAUDE.md?

A CLAUDE.md file is read whole on every step, so every note your team adds makes every session cost more. Pathrule sends each prompt only what the path and the task need. PathruleBench measured the difference with the same agent, the same prompts and the same hidden checks, from 500 to 2,000 items of team knowledge.

From 500 to 2,000 items, a chain with CLAUDE.md costs 89–98% more. With Pathrule it moves between −1% and +10%. Your knowledge base can grow; the bill does not.

_{Claude Code with claude-sonnet-5-5 in Python, Go and TypeScript; nine chains an arm at 2,000 items (three per language); executable tests decide every pass, no model judges. The Pathrule arm is this repository's open-source CLI in local mode: no Cloud, no model.}

Every condition, chain and check, and how to run it yourself → pathrule/benchmark

Smarter the longer you use it.

Day one needs no account, no network and no model. Everything after builds on what you and your agents already did in this repository.

When	What Pathrule does	Where it runs
Day 0 Foundation	Hooks and the local MCP server are wired into your agents. What you write is delivered per path, within a budget, through the hooks and Claude Code's path-scoped rules; your own CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md are left as they are.	Open source, this machine
Week 1 Memory	A decision you state in a prompt (“from now on…”, “we decided…”) is saved in your own words. A lesson a failing command taught is saved once. Each note is filed next to the code it is about, and only new or changed context is sent again.	Open source, this machine
Month 1 Your habits	A preference you state lives in a local file of your own. Said once in passing, it waits; said again in another session, it reaches every agent. One you call lasting is in force at once. A project rule always wins over a personal one.	Open source, this machine
Month 3 At scale	Thousands of notes, and a session stays the same size: the root rules file stays around 6k characters and the rest arrives per prompt. A sentence that says where code lives is marked (as of writing), so when a teammate moves the file the agent follows the code. When an edit writes a value a newer decision replaced, the hook quotes the decision at that edit.	Open source, this machine
When you choose Team	The same knowledge on every machine and for every member. For a Cloud workspace, a model also reads the prompts Pathrule's phrase rules found nothing in and keeps the sentence you meant to last, still in your words. It is paid from AI Credits.	Pathrule Cloud, opt-in

_{No model runs on your machine. Everything before Team is the open-source CLI, the same path the benchmark above measured.}

Switch agents. Keep the knowledge.

Agent	Before it acts	Instruction file	MCP
Claude Code	Hooks, prompt hook included	Pathrule's own .claude/rules/pathrule/	Local or Remote
Codex	Hooks, prompt hook included	—	Local or Remote
Cursor	—	—	Local
GitHub Copilot	—	—	Local
Windsurf	—	—	Local
Any MCP client	—	—	Local or Remote

Not another rules file

	A rules file	Pathrule
Written	By hand, kept current by hand	Grows as you and your agents work
Reaches	One tool per file	Every connected agent
Delivered	All of it, every session	Only what the path and the task need
Changes	When someone edits it	Versioned; new knowledge replaces old

Keep your CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md: Pathrule does not edit them. It delivers the rest per path and per task, where a single file cannot.

What's in this repository

This is Pathrule's open-source foundation. It runs with no account and no network service: the store, retrieval and ranking, the MCP server, the hooks, the learning loop and the CLI.

Part	Here	Licence
Foundation: protocol, agent IR, the local knowledge store, host, MCP server, CLI, Pathrule Cloud client, agent integrations, Local Console, VS Code extension	Yes	Apache-2.0
Pathrule Cloud: team workspaces, sync, the web console, Remote MCP, the Cloud model tier	No	Proprietary

The 11 packages

protocol · agent-ir · core · integrations · mcp · host · ui · local-console · cloud · cli · vscode

pnpm install
pnpm typecheck      # every package
pnpm test           # every package's tests
pnpm build          # each package's npm build

Your code stays yours

• Source code is never uploaded automatically.
• Local mode has no account, runs no model, and the open CLI sends no telemetry.
• Your agent keeps its own model provider. Pathrule is not a model, an agent or an IDE.
• Pathrule Cloud is opt-in. Signed in, it stores your knowledge and uses the prompt to rank it, and its model tier may read a prompt to find a decision meant to last.

Community

Contributors

Contributing (DCO sign-off) · Code of conduct · Report a vulnerability · Get help · Trademark policy

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE and NOTICE. The Pathrule name and logo are not licensed under Apache-2.0.

pathrule.io · Docs · Pathrule Cloud