The original title is: "Your rules file only grows. Here's how to find the rules that do nothing"

Short summary

Rules files for AI coding agents grow indefinitely because deleting feels risky but keeping isn't free — dead rules waste context tokens, dilute attention, and rot as tools change. The author proposes a quarantine method: move suspect rules out of the loaded file for a week or two, work normally, and watch whether failures return. If they don't, the rule was dead weight; if they do, it's load-bearing and deserves mechanical enforcement via hooks or CI.

• •Rules files bloat over time, costing context tokens and diluting agent attention
• •Quarantine suspect rules (don't delete) for 1-2 weeks and observe if failures return
• •Load-bearing rules that fail deletion tests should be promoted to hooks or linters

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.