Closes the gap between ClaudeForge and the Anthropic docs at
code.claude.com/docs/en/memory (and its linked hooks / skills / plugins
pages). Five tightly-scoped changes, each verified by smoke test.
A. Fix guardian hook frontmatter shape (agent/claude-md-guardian.md)
The previous array-of-{event, commands} shape did not match the
documented schema (hooks: { EventName: [{ matcher, hooks: [{ type,
command }] }] }), so the guardian's hooks silently did not fire.
Rewritten to the canonical keyed-object shape with PostToolUse,
PreToolUse, SessionStart, and the new InstructionsLoaded event.
B+C. Plugin-level hooks/hooks.json + hooks/validate-claude-md.py
New deterministic enforcement of the 150-line cap. The validator
script reads the hook payload from stdin, extracts any referenced
CLAUDE.md path (supports both PostToolUse tool_input.file_path and
InstructionsLoaded path / file shapes), and exits 2 with stderr
feedback when the file is over 150 lines. Wired to both PostToolUse
on Write|Edit and InstructionsLoaded on every load_reason
(session_start, nested_traversal, path_glob_match, include, compact).
The cap is now enforced at every load *and* write, not only when the
guardian decides to run sync.
D. ContentGenerator.generate_rules_file() (skill/generator.py)
Emits path-scoped .claude/rules/*.md instruction files with name,
description, and paths: glob frontmatter. Claude loads these
lazily — only when accessing files matching the globs — so
file-type-specific guidance no longer has to live in the root
CLAUDE.md. Validates that paths is non-empty (ValueError otherwise).
E. AGENTS.md / .cursorrules / .windsurfrules interop
command/enhance-claude-md.md Phase 1 now lists which sibling
instruction files exist. ContentGenerator.generate_root_file() reads
project_context['existing_instruction_files'] and prepends an
## External Instructions section with @AGENTS.md (etc.) imports, so
repos already using other agent tooling can adopt ClaudeForge
without losing their existing instructions.
Smoke tests (all pass):
- Guardian hooks frontmatter parses as a dict with 4 events, each
carrying matcher + nested hooks array of {type, command} entries.
- hooks.json is valid JSON; PostToolUse matcher = Write|Edit;
InstructionsLoaded matcher covers all five load_reason values.
- validate-claude-md.py: small file -> rc 0, bloated file (200 lines)
-> rc 2 with stderr referencing the 150 cap, InstructionsLoaded
payload shape also handled, non-CLAUDE.md paths ignored, no stdin
-> rc 0.
- generate_rules_file emits valid frontmatter with paths glob and
raises ValueError when paths is empty.
- generate_root_file inserts @AGENTS.md and @.cursorrules imports
when existing_instruction_files lists them; omits the section
otherwise.
- Regression: large-fullstack root still 52 lines with chain imports
intact; all five sub-CLAUDE.md files in this repo still pass
validator (status = pass).
Docs:
- agent/CLAUDE.md updated to show the canonical hook shape and the
hook-driven validator wiring.
- skill/CLAUDE.md notes generate_rules_file and AGENTS.md interop.
- CHANGELOG.md documents all five changes under Unreleased.
3.3 KiB
Parent context: see the root CLAUDE.md for project-wide guidelines and behavioural rules. Chained import:
@../CLAUDE.md
Guardian Agent Development
Guidelines for the claude-md-guardian background-maintenance agent.
File
agent/claude-md-guardian.md — installs to ~/.claude/agents/claude-md-guardian.md.
Modifying the Agent
- Edit
agent/claude-md-guardian.md. - YAML frontmatter fields to preserve:
permissions: [Bash, Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, Skill]model: haiku— token efficiency for routine sync runs.color: purple— visual indicator in Claude Code UI.fork_safe: true— agent runs independently.hooks: [SessionStart, PreToolUse, PostToolUse].
- Workflow phases inside the agent:
- Assessment — read
git diff/git status/ changed-file counts. - Analysis — decide if changes are significant enough to update CLAUDE.md.
- Update — invoke the skill for targeted section updates rather than full regeneration (~70–80% token saving vs. rewrite).
- Assessment — read
- Re-install for testing:
cp agent/claude-md-guardian.md ~/.claude/agents/.
v2.0.0+ Frontmatter Reference
Hooks use Anthropic's canonical keyed-object schema (event → array of { matcher, hooks: [{ type, command }] }):
hooks:
PostToolUse:
- matcher: "Write|Edit"
hooks:
- type: command
command: "python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/validate-claude-md.py"
InstructionsLoaded:
- matcher: "session_start|nested_traversal|path_glob_match|include|compact"
hooks:
- type: command
command: "python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/validate-claude-md.py"
The array-of-{event, commands} shape used in earlier versions did not match the documented schema and silently did not fire.
Skill ↔ Agent Integration
The agent uses claude-md-enhancer (the skill's frontmatter name; installed as claudeforge-skill/) as its core capability. Invoke it with Skill: claude-md-enhancer inside the agent workflow.
Hook responsibilities:
- SessionStart — check
git diff; if significant drift is detected, invoke the skill for an incremental update. - PreToolUse — validate before a CLAUDE.md edit lands.
- PostToolUse — after
Edit/Writeto any CLAUDE.md, the plugin-levelhooks/hooks.jsonrunshooks/validate-claude-md.py. The script exits2with stderr feedback when the file is over 150 lines; the guardian then proposes a/sync-claude-mdrun. - InstructionsLoaded — same script fires on every
load_reason(session_start,nested_traversal,path_glob_match,include,compact), so the cap is enforced deterministically at load time, not just at write time.
Agent ↔ Git
The agent watches for change signals via:
git diff --name-status HEAD~10
git log --since="1 week ago" --oneline --no-merges
git diff HEAD~10 -- package.json requirements.txt pyproject.toml go.mod Cargo.toml
Triggers an update when any of these hold:
- 5+ files modified since the last sync.
- New dependencies added to a manifest file.
- New top-level directories created (potential new sub-CLAUDE.md candidates).
- Manual invocation after a milestone or release.
When the agent runs sync, it follows command/sync-claude-md.md: never commit, leave the diff for the user to review.