Project

Preview

This page describes the version 2 layout, which isn’t in a released version of Syllabus yet. The released CLI keeps a project’s own rules in .syllabus/local/.

A project is the codebase whose rules and skills Syllabus manages, such as a web application, a service, or a CLI tool. The project root is that codebase’s top-level directory.

A project can use rules and skills written just for it, ones it takes from libraries and other repositories, or both. Each project chooses which ones to include and when to take updates. A repository can be a project and a library at once, with the same files.

What a project includes

Your codebase keeps its existing files. Syllabus adds a Syllabus directory, .syllabus/, at the project root, and, once you install skills, a copy of each skill in the folders your agents read:

my-project/
  src/
  README.md
  .syllabus/
    config.yaml
    rules/
    skills/
    assets/
    vendor/
    generated/
  .claude/skills/
  .agents/skills/

Inside .syllabus/:

• Configuration in config.yaml names the project’s sources and the rules and skills it includes from each, plus versions, renames, and any rules or skills to exclude or replace.
• Authored content in rules/, skills/, and assets/ holds the rule groups, rules, skills, and shared files you write for this project.
• Vendor snapshots in vendor/ keep a copy of what the project takes from each source, with a record of the library release or commit it came from.
• Generated guidance in generated/ combines your included rules into RULES.md, rule group pages, and rule files that agents can read, and lists installed skills in SKILLS.md.

Outside .syllabus/, Syllabus writes installed skills into .claude/skills/ and .agents/skills/, the targets your configuration names. It manages only the skill folders it installed there; other tools’ skills in the same folders stay untouched.

You maintain the configuration and authored content. Syllabus manages the vendor snapshots, generated files, and installed skills. For examples of each file, see Project files.

Set up a project

Run syllabus project init from your codebase’s root to create its .syllabus/ directory. In a Git repository, subsequent project commands also work from subdirectories. Outside Git, run them from the project root.

Follow Set up your first project to add rules, generate guidance, and tell your agent to read it.