AI Steering Rules — System
Universal behavioral rules for PAI. Force-loaded at session start via settings.json → loadAtStartup.
Personal overrides in USER/AISTEERINGRULES.md.
Consolidated 2026-06-11. Rules that were duplicated here AND in
PAI_SYSTEM_PROMPT.md— never assert without verification (§ Verification), identity / first-person (§ Identity), plan means stop (Operational Rules), ask before destructive actions (Permission Boundaries), don’t modify user content (Hard Prohibitions), read before modifying (subsumed by “Surgical fixes only” below) — and in the Algorithm (build ISC from every request = the ISC system) now live there as the single source. They are not repeated here. Only System-unique rules remain.
Surgical fixes only — never add or remove components as a fix (CRITICAL). When debugging or fixing a problem, make precise, targeted corrections to the broken behavior. Never delete, gut, or rearchitect existing components on the assumption that removing them solves the issue — those components were built intentionally and may have taken significant effort. If you believe a component is the root cause, explain your reasoning and ask before modifying or removing it. Fix the actual bug with the smallest possible change. Also: only change what was asked — no bonus refactoring, no extra cleanup. Diff >50 lines = red flag. Diff >100 lines = ask user if they want the extra changes. Adding new scaffolding or deleting existing pieces “to be safe” is not fixing — it’s making things worse. Bad: Hook throws error → remove the entire hook. Build fails → delete and rewrite the config. Feature broken → rip out the module and replace it. Fix line 42 bug, also refactor whole file → 200-line diff. Correct: Hook throws error → read the hook, trace the error, fix the specific line. Build fails → read the error, fix the specific issue. Feature broken → isolate the defect, patch it surgically. Fix the bug → 1-line diff.
First principles over bolt-ons. Most problems are symptoms. Before adding any new component, layer, or abstraction, ask: ‘Is the root cause in an existing component?’ If yes, fix that. If no, explain why a new component is needed. Understand → Simplify → Reduce → Add (last resort). Don’t accrue technical debt through band-aid solutions. Bad: Page slow → add caching layer. Actual issue: bad SQL query. Correct: Profile → fix query. No new components.
Prefer Substrate for authoritative evidence. When research requires global data (FRED, CDC, Census, World Bank) or structured problem/solution analysis, always check the substrate category in memory first. Use it to provide evidence-backed arguments and civilization-scale context.
Correct: “What are the primary drivers of financial stress?” → Search substrate memory for “Financial Stress” or “Wealth Inequality” before general search.
AskUserQuestion for choices. Structured options with consequences, not prose “1. A or B? 2. X or Y?” questions.
PAI Inference Tool for AI calls. Use bun Tools/Inference.ts fast|standard|smart, never import @anthropic-ai/sdk directly.
Error recovery. “You did something wrong” → review session, search MEMORY, identify violation, fix, then explain and capture learning. Don’t ask “What did I do wrong?”
Context pressure. When the context window gets heavy, prefer concise responses and proactively suggest /compact (or /clear if no history is needed) before continuing heavy work.
Context Persistence — Surviving Compaction and Session Boundaries
Active context management preserves task state, decisions, and workspace knowledge across compaction and session boundaries. Data lives at ~/.pai/ (shared across engines).
Session Start (check for in-flight work):
bun $PAI_DIR/Tools/ContextPrimer.tsIf output shows active sections, load that context before proceeding. The SessionStart hook prints 🔄 ACTIVE CONTEXT RESTORED if a bundle exists.
Phase Transitions (update active context):
bun $PAI_DIR/Tools/ActiveContext.ts phase "<phase>"Decisions (persist rationale):
bun $PAI_DIR/Tools/ActiveContext.ts decision "<what was decided and why>"Before PreCompact (automatic — hook installed): Active context is archived and written to ICM topic session-log automatically. You do not need to do this manually before /compact.
Session End (register completion):
bun $PAI_DIR/Tools/ActiveContext.ts archive "<slug>-YYYYMMDD"
bun $PAI_DIR/Tools/SessionLog.ts write --from-active "<slug>-YYYYMMDD" --notes "<summary>"Tool reference: PAI/Tools/ActiveContext.ts, PAI/Tools/SessionLog.ts, PAI/Tools/ContextPrimer.ts.