Standards Reference

What standards are

Standards are Markdown files under toolbox/standards/ that define rules Claude follows when writing and reviewing code. They are not style guides — they are loaded into Claude's context and followed as instructions.

How the standards gate works

A shell hook (pre-tool-standards-gate.sh) checks for a session flag before allowing any file edit. The flag (/tmp/toolbox-standards-loaded-<session-id>) is created by /load-standards after it confirms all applicable standards are loaded.

The gate is active in any project that has .claude/memory/MEMORY.md (created by /new-project). Projects without that file bypass the gate silently.

Standard file structure

Every standards file is plain Markdown. No special format required. Standards under standards/universal/ apply to every project. Standards under standards/stacks/<name>/ apply only when that stack is active.

The standards/universal/DIGEST.md file is a one-page summary of all 9 universal standards. The main session loads only the digest; sub-agents receive paths to the specific full files they need.

Adding standards

• New universal rule → edit the appropriate file in standards/universal/
• New stack → say "add standards for [stack]" (runs /add-stack-standards)
• Rule from project work → run /retrospective after a project milestone

See Standards / Stacks for the inheritance model and file format.