Workspace Rule Implementation¶

Implementation Architecture¶

Directory Structure¶

workspace-root/
└── .amazonq/rules/
    ├── semantic-commits.md
    ├── documentation-standards.md
    ├── project-organization.md
    └── workspace-maintenance.md

Rule Categories¶

Enforcement Rules - semantic-commits.md - Commit message format requirements - documentation-standards.md - Frontmatter and authoring requirements

Organization Rules - project-organization.md - Workspace structure and project purposes - workspace-maintenance.md - Rules for maintaining rule consistency

Core Patterns¶

Reference Pattern¶

Point to specifications, don't duplicate
Use imperative language ("must", "always")
Include enforcement statement

Organization Pattern¶

Project structure diagram
Quick reference guide
Clear project purposes and rules

Maintenance Pattern¶

Explicit update requirements
Verification steps
Examples of triggering changes

Implementation¶

Create .amazonq/rules/ directory
Copy rule files from this workspace
Update paths to match target workspace
Adapt project structure to domain needs

Rule Templates¶

Separate template files for easy copying:

semantic-commits.md - Commit format enforcement
documentation-standards.md - Frontmatter requirements
project-organization.md - Workspace structure
workspace-maintenance.md - Rule maintenance
minimal-code.md - Minimal code implementation standards

Integration¶

Rules → reference specifications
Specifications → contain detailed knowledge
Tooling → implements standards
Processes → documented in engineering specs

Adapting for Other AI Systems¶

The four-rule structure and content patterns are portable across AI systems. Only the rules directory location changes:

AI System	Rules Directory
Amazon Q	`.amazonq/rules/*.md`
Cursor	`.cursor/rules/*.md`
GitHub Copilot	`.github/copilot-instructions.md`
Claude (Anthropic)	`CLAUDE.md` (single file)
OpenAI Codex	`AGENTS.md` (single file)

For single-file systems (Claude, Codex), concatenate the four rule files into one, preserving the section structure.

What transfers unchanged: rule categories, reference pattern, enforcement language, maintenance pattern.

What needs adapting: directory path in documentation-standards.md and semantic-commits.md references, project structure diagram in project-organization.md.