Rules

A rule is a markdown file holding instructions Vera should follow. Rules live in two places:

~/.vera/rules/       your rules, for every project
<project>/.vera/rules/   the project's rules

Both directories are flat. Vera does not look in subdirectories, and it does not look for rule files next to your code.

Always-on rules

A rule with no frontmatter is always on. It joins the system prompt and stays there. Vera reads rule files again before each turn, so an edit applies from the next turn.

# Tone

Write plain sentences. Conclusion first.

Always-on rules render in this order: your rules, then AGENTS.md and AGENTS.local.md, then the project’s rules. Within a directory, rules sort by file name.

Rules scoped to paths

Frontmatter with a paths: list scopes a rule to the files it covers. The rule stays out of the system prompt and arrives when Vera reads a matching file.

---
paths:
  - "treasure/**"
  - "ships/*/hold.yaml"
---

# Treasure

Every chest gets a decoy lid.

Globs match paths relative to the project root. * matches within one path segment, **/ matches any number of leading directories, and a trailing ** matches the rest of the path.

When a scoped rule arrives

After Vera successfully reads a matching file, the rule joins the next request in that turn. A rule arrives at most once until the conversation compacts, and can arrive again after that. Search, listing, editing, writing, and failed reads do not bring a rule in.

Nothing on screen marks a rule arriving. It reaches the model as a message after the file. Here is the same ask, first without a rule and then with one.

See what applies

$ vera rules which treasure/chest.yaml
Rules for treasure/chest.yaml:
  always       <home>/rules/tone.md
  treasure/**  .vera/rules/treasure.md

The command reads the rule files and reports; it changes nothing.

Limits

A rule file larger than 128 KB is skipped. Always-on rules are capped at 256 KB per scope. A file whose frontmatter is not a paths: list is skipped, and Vera reports it rather than failing the session. Unknown frontmatter keys are ignored.