.claude/rules paths: glob-scoped rules in Claude Code

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Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.

1. Your monorepo keeps Terraform under infra/ and a React app under web/. You want Claude to follow a long Terraform naming convention whenever it opens a file under infra/, and you want none of that text loaded in sessions that only touch web/. Everyone who clones the repository should get the same behaviour. Which approach should you take?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: A is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   The answerA.Create .claude/rules/terraform.md with paths: ["infra/**/*.tf"] in its YAML frontmatter, and commit the file with the repository.Rules with a paths field in their frontmatter are the only one of these surfaces that Claude Code loads on a file-match condition. A .claude/rules/*.md file without paths loads at launch with the same priority as .claude/CLAUDE.md; adding paths makes it a conditional rule that applies only when Claude works with files matching the patterns.Your answerB.Append the convention to the committed .claude/CLAUDE.md under a heading saying it applies only to files under infra/.Treats a heading inside CLAUDE.md as a loading condition. CLAUDE.md is read in full at session start and stays in every request; a sentence about when it applies scopes Claude's attention, not what is loaded, so the web/ sessions still pay for every line of it.Your answerC.Create .claude/rules/terraform.md with no frontmatter, so the repository ships it as a rules file rather than one long memory file.Assumes the .claude/rules/ directory is itself the conditional mechanism. The directory only splits instructions into files: a rules file without paths frontmatter loads at launch with the same priority as .claude/CLAUDE.md, so the context cost is unchanged.Your answerD.Commit the convention as a project skill at .claude/skills/terraform-naming/SKILL.md with a description naming the infra/ directory.Confuses on-demand loading with conditional loading. A skill loads when you invoke it or when Claude judges its description relevant to your prompt, so nothing guarantees it is in context at the moment Claude opens a .tf file.

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   That satisfies both constraints at once: the convention is guaranteed present whenever infra/ files are in play, and absent from sessions that never touch them. Because the file is committed, every clone behaves the same way.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/memory.md

2. Your team keeps its runbooks as markdown under docs/, several levels deep in places, and you have written a rule that tells Claude the house format for a runbook. You want the rule to load whenever Claude opens any runbook, and to stay out of context otherwise. You are filling in its paths frontmatter. Which approach should you take?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: D is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.List docs/** and *.md together, so a file has to match both patterns before the rule loads.Multiple patterns in a paths list are alternatives, not requirements: the rule applies to files matching the specified patterns. Listing two does not narrow the match to their intersection.Your answerB.List *.md, which matches every markdown file in the project, wherever the file sits.The documented meaning of *.md is markdown files in the project root, which is where your runbooks are not. It would also drag in every root-level markdown file, such as the README.Your answerC.List docs/*.md, which matches every markdown file under docs/, at any depth below it.docs/*.md matches only the markdown files sitting directly in docs/. Runbooks a level or two deeper never trigger the rule. Crossing directory levels needs **.The answerD.List docs/**/*.md, which matches every markdown file under docs/, at any depth below it.The paths frontmatter takes glob patterns, and the documented table fixes their meaning: **/*.ts is "All TypeScript files in any directory", src/**/* is "All files under src/ directory", and *.md is "Markdown files in the project root". Combining the directory prefix with ** and the extension gives docs/**/*.md, which matches markdown at any depth under docs/ and nothing outside it.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/memory.md

3. Your .claude/rules/assets.md lists three paths patterns. Files under raw [2026]/ never bring the rule into context, and neither do the files matched by a pattern whose brace groups expand into many thousands of combinations. The third pattern works. Nothing in the session reports an error. What change would most effectively make the rule apply to all three sets of files?

   Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building.

   Not that one: D is right. In the game your Claude Code Configuration and Workflows building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.

   Your answerA.Move the two failing patterns into a rule file of their own, and leave both of them written as they are.The expansion budget is shared by a rule's whole paths list, so moving patterns to another file can relieve it, but the invalid bracket expression is invalid wherever it lives. Splitting the file also leaves two rules to maintain.Your answerB.Rewrite the brace groups as separate patterns without braces, and leave the bracket pattern written as it is.Writing the brace groups out as separate patterns takes them off the budget, since patterns without braces do not count against it. The pattern holding an unescaped [ remains invalid and keeps matching nothing.Your answerC.Escape the bracket as raw \[2026\]/**, and leave the brace groups written as they are.Escaping the bracket revives that pattern, but the braced pattern is still used unexpanded once it exceeds the budget, and unexpanded braces are literal characters that match no file name.The answerD.Escape the bracket as raw \[2026\]/**, and rewrite the brace groups as separate patterns without braces.Two independent glob behaviours are failing quietly at once. On brackets: "Glob syntax treats [ as the start of a bracket expression such as [abc]. A pattern with a [ that can't be read as a bracket expression, such as photos [2024/**, is invalid: it matches nothing, and the rule's other patterns keep working."

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   On braces: "Claude Code uses any pattern that would exceed the budget unexpanded, and its literal braces match no files." Escaping the bracket and removing the braces addresses both.

   Written from code.claude.com/docs/en/memory.md