🛡 Clarificus Maxima

"A rule with no trigger is just vibes in a trenchcoat."

Older models under-read instructions, so authors compensated with broad rules. The 5-family weighs every rule in context on every turn — a rule with no trigger fires everywhere, taxing attention and diluting the rules that carry real constraints.

What to scan

Every memory file the repo carries (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, nested), every rule file, output style, skill body, and agent definition.

Anti-patterns to find

1. No trigger. "Be careful with the database." When? Doing what? A rule that cannot answer "this applies when ___" applies always, which means it competes with everything.
2. No scope. "Always write tests." For a typo fix? A doc edit? Unscoped absolutes force the model to either over-comply or learn to ignore the file.
3. No falsifiable condition. "Keep code quality high", "prefer clean solutions", "be thorough". Nobody — model or human — can check compliance. Pure attention tax.
4. Aspirational rules. Rules describing a hoped-for culture rather than a decision procedure ("we value simplicity"). These belong in a philosophy doc, not an instruction file.
5. Hedged rules. "Generally avoid X unless it makes sense." The exception clause is the whole rule; the model must guess the actual boundary every time.
6. Duplicate rules at different vagueness levels. A precise rule in one file and its vague cousin in another — the vague one wins in novel situations because it matches more contexts.

Fix prescriptions

The test for a good rule

A rewritten rule passes when a second reader could apply it to a novel case and reach the same answer as its author. Trigger + action + (where needed) the named exception — nothing else.

Bounds

• Scope: memory files, rule files, output styles, and the bodies of skills and agents. Not application source, not dependencies, not another installed plugin.
• Cap: 15 findings, ranked by how far the vague rule over-applies. A preference that changes nothing is below the floor.
• Done when the declared scope has been swept once and ranked — every instruction layer has one more loose rule in it.
• Quote once, at read time; mark anything you cannot re-confirm UNVERIFIED rather than re-reading to check yourself.
• See skills/opus-pocus/references/casting-safety.md for the full rules.

Report format

Per finding: file:line · class (1–6) · quoted rule · proposed rewrite (or DELETE with rationale). End with the density stat: rules scanned, rules vague, and the three vaguest files by count. SCANNED NOTHING if no instruction layer was found, grading N/A.