Standing orders

Think of it when you correct the agent for the same thing in a second session.

In everyday life

It is like a notice taped inside a shared kitchen cupboard: every cook who opens the door reads it. Unlike a lock on the cupboard, it cannot stop a cook who ignores it.

One case

A music streaming app’s repo installs its outside code with one package managerA tool that downloads the outside code a project uses and records the exact versions. npm and pnpm are two of them., pnpm. On Monday the agent uses npm instead, and a developer corrects it in the chat. On Tuesday and Wednesday a fresh session starts, and the agent uses npm again: a chat correction ends with the chat. On Wednesday evening the developer adds one line to the rules file, and the Thursday and Friday sessions use pnpm.

The chat fix did not carry over; the file line did

The case, cell by cell1 cell = 1 session

Tool the repo uses

pnpmpnpmpnpmpnpmpnpm

Tool the agent used

npmnpmnpmpnpmpnpm

Repeats after the chat fix

Lines added to the rules file

The developer added the rule to the file on Wednesday evening.

Every case

Most agent sessions start with no memory of the last chat. The rules file is loaded at the start of every session, so standing orders belong there. Every line costs space in every session, so keep only what the agent cannot find by looking: the unwritten convention, the reason behind a choice, the trap no config file shows. A line that tells the agent to do what it already does is wasted; delete it. Text is also the weakest lock: nothing fails when the agent skips a line.

The word

Engineers call this

rules file, AGENTS.mdA file in the repo that the agent’s tool loads at the start of every session, such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, depending on the tool. It holds the rules and facts the agent cannot find by reading the code.

Write a correction into the rules file the second time you give it. If a script can check the rule, add the script too.

Where this idea leads

keep each rule inOne real copyHabits, Keep it contained
are weaker thanLocks, not willpowerHabits, Guard the doors
are backed up byA script that blocks a stepSteering, Limit it
tell the agent how toProve it worksHabits, While you build

Skills that encode it

writing-for-agents Matt PocockCache in AGENTS.md only what the agent cannot find by looking, and prune no-ops and stale lines.
principle-encode-lessons-in-structure pstackAn instruction written a second time becomes a lint, runtime check or script instead of more text.
correct pstackDocs and agent rules come last, for judgment calls only: nothing fails when an agent skips them.