# Continue project rules and current configuration

Use Continue project rules alongside current YAML model configuration, distinguish instructions from enforcement and migrate legacy examples with their scope intact.

Author: Retrivium team
Updated: 2026-11-03
Canonical URL: https://retrivium.ai/journal/continue-project-rules-current-config/
Language: en

A project rule tells Continue how work should be approached in a repository. It can describe conventions, generated files or required checks. That is different from selecting a model and from enforcing a tool permission. Keeping these concerns separate makes a local coding setup easier to move between projects and maintain over time.

## Put repository guidance in the documented location

The [Continue Rules guide](https://docs.continue.dev/customize/rules) identifies `.continue/rules` for local project instructions. Keep rules with the repository when they describe its conventions. A rule about one application's migration process should not become a global instruction for every unrelated project on the same workstation.

Start with a narrow factual convention, such as which source file generates an API client. Describe the intended edit location and why. Prefer a useful repository fact over a broad demand that the model always be correct, which supplies no additional context for deciding what to change.

## Keep model configuration independent

The current [YAML configuration reference](https://docs.continue.dev/reference) describes configuration fields and model roles. A rule asking for a local model does not establish the runtime connection, model identifier or role assignment. Those values must exist in the active configuration.

For a developer using separate chat and completion models, verify each role through its own workflow. Then evaluate the repository rule in the mode where it is expected to apply. A successful chat response does not prove that another feature used the same model or received the same instructions.

## Inspect old examples before migrating them

Continue's current documentation marks earlier JSON and context-provider material as deprecated. The [rules deep dive](https://docs.continue.dev/customize/deep-dives/rules) is a better basis for current rule behavior than copying a historical setup file without identifying its generation.

Inventory the old setup by purpose: repository instruction, model connection, retrieval behavior or tool configuration. Move each part into its currently documented mechanism. Renaming a file is not a complete migration if the original example also depended on a context feature that is no longer selected.

## Use a deliberate contradictory fixture

Create a disposable repository with a generated client file and its small source definition. Ask for a change that might tempt an assistant to patch the generated output. Inspect whether the rule steers the edit toward the intended source.

Then test a neighboring file where the rule should not add unrelated work. This catches instructions that are too broad. Review both the explanation and the diff: a model can repeat the rule in prose while editing the wrong file. Keep the fixture small enough that a human can see the distinction.

## Separate a useful instruction from a guarantee

Rules enter the agent's context. They do not independently create a filesystem boundary, install dependencies or prove that a required test ran. Enforce important conditions through the appropriate environment or repository checks and inspect their results.

Keep the rule revision, Continue version and effective configuration together when diagnosing a change in behavior. Update stale file paths and remove conflicting instructions. A concise, accurate rule set helps a local model use project knowledge; a growing collection of historical demands can instead make the intended workflow harder to identify.

## Related reading

[Reproducible inference stacks: preserving a GPU pilot’s result](/journal/software-stack-reproducibility/), [Coding LLMs on 12GB VRAM: Budget Context and Headroom](/journal/coding-llm-12gb-vram/).