🧩 Manage Rules – Universal AI Coding Rules Manager for VS Code
Bring consistent, context-rich AI assistance to every repo you touch—across Cursor, GitHub Copilot, CLINE, RooCode & Windsurf —without leaving VS Code with powerful AI memory bank prompts.
✨ Why you’ll love it
- One-click install of a curated rule-set & “memory bank” that makes any AI assistant project-aware.
- Works everywhere your AI does: generates
.cursor/rules, .clinerules, .windsurf/rules, Copilot instructions—automatically.
- Always in sync: update rules once, hit Sync, done.
- Clean exits: nuke generated files or the whole framework with Clean Rules / Clean All.
- Zero-config: Python script is bundled; respects your workspace’s Python path if you want.
- Open-source & extensible: MIT-licensed, backed by the Rulebook-AI project.
“Finally my Cursor and Copilot follow the same playbook.” — Early adopter
🚀 Quick Start (30 sec)
- Open the project folder in VS Code.
- Click the Manage Rules icon in the Activity Bar.
- Hit Install Rule Set → pick
light-spec (or any set).
- Watch the integrated terminal finish; start coding with a smarter AI!
(Need a different rule later? Use Sync after editing project_rules/.)
📸 Live demo
Replace the placeholders below with your assets
📸 Installation Flow
Follow these four simple steps to see how Manage Rules installs a rule set into your workspace:
Open the “Manage Rules” Sidebar
Click the “Manage Rules” icon in the VS Code Activity Bar to reveal all available commands.
Click the puzzle-piece icon at the bottom left (or wherever you pinned it) to expand the Manage Rules menu.
Select “Install Rule Set” & Choose Your Rule Set
From the sidebar commands, click Install Rule Set, then pick a rule set (e.g. heavy-spec).
Type or scroll to the rule set you want, then press Enter.
Confirm Installation
VS Code will pop up a confirmation dialog. Click Yes to begin.
Once you click Yes, the extension will run the bundled Python script in the integrated terminal.
Verify Generated Folders in Your Workspace
After the script finishes, you’ll see new folders (e.g. .cursor/, .clinerules/, .windsurf/, etc.) plus project_rules/ appear at your workspace root.
These folders contain the platform-specific rule files and memory definitions you selected.
👏 That’s it! Your chosen rule set is now installed. To update later, simply click Sync Rule Set from the same sidebar. If you want to start fresh, use Clean Rules or Clean All.
🔍 Commands & Settings
| Command |
Palette ID |
What it does |
| Install Framework |
Manage Rules: Install |
Copy chosen rule set + memory, then run an initial sync. |
| Sync Rules |
Manage Rules: Sync |
Regenerate platform-specific rule folders. |
| Clean Rules |
Manage Rules: Clean Rules |
Delete generated rule folders & project_rules/. |
| Clean All |
Manage Rules: Clean All |
Full uninstall: rules, memory, tools, env files. |
| List Rule Sets |
Manage Rules: List Available Rule Sets |
Peek at available rule-set names. |
| Run Custom CLI… |
– |
Type any manage_rules.py args yourself. |
Extension settings
| Setting |
Default |
Purpose |
manageRules.pythonPath |
python3 |
Interpreter used to run the backend script. |
💡 How it works (under the hood)
The extension is a thin Node.js wrapper that triggers the backend manage_rules.py script inside VS Code’s Integrated Terminal. Six static commands in a sidebar cover all common workflows; anything else you can run via Custom CLI.
🛣 Road-map
- Multi-root workspace support
- Webview with progress & file preview
- Auto-sync on rule edits
.gitignore helper for generated files
(Vote or file new ideas in Discussions).
🤝 Need help or have ideas?
- Open an Issue in the repo
- Drop anonymous feedback via our Google Form
- Chat with us in the GitHub Discussions tab
© 2025 Bo-Ting Wang · MIT License
