Project Rules

Recognized files

Within each directory, RightNow checks these names in order and loads each readable matching file that is not excluded by applicable ignore rules:

1. 1Agents.md
2. 2Claude.md
3. 3CLAUDE.md
4. 4CLAUDE.local.md
5. 5AGENT.md
6. 6AGENTS.md

• On case-insensitive filesystems, names that resolve to the same file are deduplicated. Top-level Claude-compatible names remain recognized even when machine-wide Claude imports are disabled.
• Only these names count as top-level instruction files; inside a rules directory, every *.md file loads.
• Each file loads in full, with no size cap, so keep rules short.

Load order and scope

1. Home rules load first: <RIGHTNOW_HOME>/rules/*.md, then ~/.claude/ and ~/.cursor/ sources when their compatibility settings allow.
2. Inside a repository, rules load from the repository root down to the current working directory.
3. If the working directory is not in a repository, only its local project rules are scanned.
4. Rules in deeper directories appear later, so they win when instructions conflict. Files in a rules directory load alphabetically.

my-repo/
  AGENTS.md
  src/
    AGENTS.md
    components/
      AGENTS.md

Starting in src/components loads all three files. The components rule has the final word on conflicts because it is deepest. Instruction files in directories the agent reads later are noted and read when they apply.

Session-only rules

Use --rules, also available as --append-system-prompt, to add temporary instructions without editing a file.

rightnow --rules "Always use TypeScript. Prefer functional components."

RightNow wraps this text in <human_rules> and appends it when a session is created. A system prompt override (--system-prompt-override, alias --system-prompt) replaces the base prompt and retains the supplied <human_rules> block. Without an effective system prompt override, changing --rules while resuming leaves the existing rules unchanged. With an effective override, the resumed session uses that override and the currently supplied rules.

The project extension directory

Prefer the .rightnow/ paths. RightNow reads them first and still honors the legacy paths below.

Compatible rule discovery also covers .claude/rules/*.md, .cursor/rules/*.md, and the project files .claude/CLAUDE.md and .claude/CLAUDE.local.md when their compatibility settings are enabled.

Inspect what loaded

rightnow inspect

It lists the discovered project instructions with their paths and approximate token counts. Add --json for machine-readable output.