AI Rules Sync

AI Rules Sync (AIS) — Install, compose, update, and publish native agent assets from multiple Git repositories across all your projects.

AIS is an asset federation toolkit, not a format converter. It keeps your files exactly as they are — skills, rules, commands, agents — and syncs them via symbolic links across every project you work on. Edit once, update everywhere.

How AIS is Different

| AIS | Other tools | |---|---| | Symlinks — upstream changes are instant | Copy files — must re-run to update | | One source → many projects | One project at a time | | Native assets — no format conversion | Rewrite / re-generate your files | | Import → publish → review workflow | One-way consumption only | | 370 KB, 5 dependencies | Often 10+ MB with deep dependency trees | | Git-native — works with any Git remote | Tied to specific registries or APIs |

AIS is complementary to format-conversion tools. If you also need cross-tool format conversion, you can use AIS for asset management and another tool for generation — they solve different problems.

Supported Tools

This table is generated from docs/supported-tools.json via npm run docs:sync-tools.

| Tool | rules | skills | commands | agents | AGENTS.md | tools | prompts | instructions | |:---|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| | Universal | — | — | — | — | ✅ | — | — | — | | Aider | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Amp | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Antigravity CLI | — | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | | Augment Code | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | | Claude Code | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Cline | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | | CodeBuddy | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | — | — | | Codex | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Continue | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | ✅ | — | | Cursor | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | | DeepAgents | — | ✅ | — | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | DeepSeek | — | ✅ | — | — | ✅ | — | — | — | | Factory Droid | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Gemini CLI | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | GitHub Copilot | — | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | — | ✅ | ✅ | | Goose | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Hermes Agent | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Junie | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Kilo Code | — | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Kimi Code | — | ✅ | — | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Kiro | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | | OpenCode | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | — | | Pi | — | ✅ | — | — | ✅ | — | ✅ | — | | Qwen Code | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | | Trae | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | | Warp | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Windsurf | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | | WorkBuddy | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — | | Zed | — | ✅ | — | — | — | — | — | — |

📋 Full directory reference — source paths, modes, suffixes, and documentation links.

Also supports User Mode for personal AI config files.

Installation

Via npm (Recommended)

npm install -g ai-rules-sync

Via Homebrew (macOS only)

brew tap lbb00/ai-rules-sync https://github.com/lbb00/ai-rules-sync
brew install ais

Verify:

ais --version

Optional: Enable tab completion

ais completion install

Quick Start

Use assets from a repository

cd your-project

# Add a rule (specify repository URL the first time)
ais cursor add react -t https://github.com/your-org/rules-repo.git

# After first use, omit -t
ais cursor add vue
ais copilot instructions add coding-standards
ais claude skills add code-review

Share your existing assets

# Import a rule from your project into the repository
ais cursor rules import my-custom-rule

# Optionally push to remote
ais cursor rules import my-rule --push

Restore assets (team onboarding / CI)

# Restore all assets from ai-rules-sync.json
ais install

User-level sync (personal AI configs)

# Sync personal configs to $HOME
ais claude md add CLAUDE --user
ais gemini md add GEMINI --user

# Restore on a new machine
ais user install

Core Concepts

How It Works

Git Repository                    Global Cache                    Your Projects
┌─────────────────┐     clone     ┌──────────────────┐  symlink  ┌──────────┐
│ .claude/skills/ │ ───────────→  │ ~/.config/       │ ────────→ │ projectA │
│ .cursor/rules/  │               │ ai-rules-sync/   │ ────────→ │ projectB │
│ .github/inst... │               │ repos/           │ ────────→ │ projectC │
└─────────────────┘               └──────────────────┘           └──────────┘

1. Clone — AIS clones your asset repositories to a global cache (~/.config/ai-rules-sync/repos/)
2. Symlink — Each project gets symbolic links pointing into the cache
3. Update — When you pull changes in the repo, every project sees them instantly

Three Configuration Layers

| File | Scope | Committed to Git | |------|-------|-----------------| | ai-rules-sync.local.json | Private, per-project | No | | ai-rules-sync.json | Shared, per-project | Yes | | user.json (~/.config/ai-rules-sync/) | Global, per-user | Optional (dotfiles) |

Three Core Operations

| Command | What it does | |---------|-------------| | ais add | Link an asset from a repository to your project | | ais import | Copy an asset from your project into the repository, then replace with symlink | | ais install | Restore all symlinks from ai-rules-sync.json (team onboarding, CI) |

Basic Usage

Setup a Repository

# Use an existing remote repository
ais use https://github.com/your-org/rules-repo.git

# Use a local path (for development / testing)
ais use ~/my-rules-repo

# List all configured repositories
ais ls

# Switch between repositories
ais use company-rules
ais use personal-rules

Add Assets to Your Project

cd your-project

# First time: specify repository
ais cursor add react -t https://github.com/org/rules.git

# Subsequent adds (uses current repository)
ais cursor add vue
ais cursor add typescript

# Add with alias (different name in project)
ais cursor add react react-18

# Add from a different repository
ais cursor add coding-standards -t company-rules

# Add as private (saved to ai-rules-sync.local.json)
ais cursor add company-secrets --local

# Add to custom target directory (monorepo)
ais cursor add my-rule -d packages/frontend/.cursor/rules

Import Existing Assets

# Import a rule from your project into the repository
ais cursor rules import my-custom-rule

# Import with custom commit message
ais cursor rules import my-rule -m "Add custom rule"

# Import and push to remote
ais cursor rules import my-rule --push

# Force overwrite if exists in repository
ais cursor rules import my-rule --force

Remove Assets

ais cursor rm react
ais cursor commands rm deploy
ais cursor skills rm code-review

Install from Configuration

# Clone project and restore all assets
git clone https://github.com/team/project.git
cd project
ais install

# Install all entries for a specific tool
ais cursor install
ais claude install

Discover and Install All

# Install everything from current repository
ais add-all

# Install all Cursor rules
ais cursor add-all

# Preview before installing
ais add-all --dry-run

# Filter by tool
ais add-all --tools cursor,copilot

# Interactive mode
ais cursor add-all --interactive

Tool-Specific Commands

Cursor

ais cursor add react                 # Rule
ais cursor commands add deploy       # Command
ais cursor skills add code-review    # Skill
ais cursor agents add code-analyzer  # Subagent

GitHub Copilot

ais copilot instructions add coding-style
ais copilot prompts add generate-tests
ais copilot skills add web-scraping
ais copilot agents add code-reviewer

Claude Code

ais claude rules add general
ais claude skills add code-review
ais claude agents add debugger
ais claude md add CLAUDE             # CLAUDE.md (project)
ais claude md add CLAUDE --user      # CLAUDE.md (personal)

Codex

ais codex rules add default
ais codex skills add code-assistant
ais codex md add AGENTS --user       # ~/.codex/AGENTS.md

Gemini CLI

ais gemini commands add deploy-docs
ais gemini skills add code-review
ais gemini agents add code-analyzer
ais gemini md add GEMINI --user      # ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md

Other Tools

ais trae rules add project-rules
ais opencode agents add code-reviewer
ais opencode tools add project-analyzer
ais windsurf add project-style
ais windsurf skills add deploy-staging
ais cline add coding
ais cline skills add release-checklist
ais warp skills add my-skill
ais agents-md add .                  # Universal AGENTS.md

Advanced Features

Multiple Repositories

ais cursor add coding-standards -t company-rules
ais cursor add react-best-practices -t https://github.com/community/rules.git
ais cursor add my-utils -t personal-rules

User Mode (Personal AI Config Files)

ais claude md add CLAUDE --user      # → ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
ais gemini md add GEMINI --user      # → ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md
ais codex md add AGENTS --user       # → ~/.codex/AGENTS.md
ais cursor rules add my-style --user

# Restore on a new machine
ais user install

Dotfiles integration:

ais config user set ~/dotfiles/ai-rules-sync/user.json
ais user install

Repository Lifecycle

# Check whether repositories are behind upstream
ais check

# Preview updates without pulling
ais update --dry-run

# Pull updates and reinstall entries
ais update

# Initialize a rules repository template
ais init

Git Commands

ais git status
ais git pull
ais git push
ais git log --oneline
ais git status -t company-rules

Custom Source Directories

For third-party repositories with non-standard structure:

# CLI parameters (temporary)
ais cursor rules add-all -s custom/rules

# Persistent configuration
ais config repo set-source third-party cursor.rules custom/rules
ais config repo show third-party

Custom Target Directories

# Monorepo: different packages
ais cursor add react-rules frontend-rules -d packages/frontend/.cursor/rules
ais cursor add node-rules backend-rules -d packages/backend/.cursor/rules

Tab Completion

ais completion install
ais cursor add <Tab>              # Lists available rules
ais cursor commands add <Tab>     # Lists available commands

Configuration Reference

ai-rules-sync.json

{
  "version": 1,
  "cursor": {
    "rules": {
      "react": "https://github.com/user/repo.git",
      "react-v2": {
        "url": "https://github.com/user/another-repo.git",
        "rule": "react"
      }
    },
    "commands": { "deploy-docs": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" },
    "skills":   { "code-review": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" },
    "agents":   { "code-analyzer": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" }
  },
  "claude": {
    "rules":  { "general": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" },
    "skills": { "code-review": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" },
    "agents": { "debugger": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" },
    "md":     { "CLAUDE": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" }
  }
}

Repository Config (ai-rules-sync.json in rules repo)

{
  "version": 1,
  "rootPath": "src",
  "sourceDir": {
    "cursor": { "rules": ".cursor/rules", "commands": ".cursor/commands" },
    "claude": { "skills": ".claude/skills", "rules": ".claude/rules" },
    "*": { "skills": "common/skills" }
  }
}

Entry Formats

| Format | Example | |--------|---------| | Simple string | "react": "https://github.com/user/repo.git" | | Object with alias | "react-v2": { "url": "...", "rule": "react" } | | Custom target dir | "docs-rule": { "url": "...", "targetDir": "docs/ai/rules" } |

Architecture

CLI (commander.js)
    ↓
Adapter Registry (34 adapters, 11 tools)
    ↓
dotany — generic dotfile management layer
    ├── SourceResolver (GitRepoSource)
    ├── ManifestStore (ai-rules-sync.json)
    └── DotfileManager (add, remove, apply, diff, status, import)
    ↓
Sync Engine (symlink creation, ignore management)
    ↓
Config Layer (global config, project config, user config)

Learn More

📖 Full documentation: https://lbb00.github.io/ai-rules-sync/

• Getting Started
• Project-Level Sync
• User Global-Level Sync
• Multiple Repositories
• CLI Reference
• Configuration Reference

Links

• Documentation: https://lbb00.github.io/ai-rules-sync/
• Issues: https://github.com/lbb00/ai-rules-sync/issues
• NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/package/ai-rules-sync

License

Unlicense - Free to use, modify, and distribute.