[BUG] Path-scoped rules in .claude/rules/ load into context globally regardless of paths: frontmatter

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/16171

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

same issue
## Description

Rules files with paths frontmatter in .claude/rules/ are being loaded into the system prompt at conversation
start, regardless of whether the user is working with files matching those patterns.

### Expected Behavior

According to the documentation, rules with a paths field should only be loaded when working with files matching
those glob patterns:

``markdown
---
paths: **/*.razor
---
# Blazor Component Rules
...
``

This rule should only load when I'm working with .razor files.

### Actual Behavior

All rules files in .claude/rules/ are loaded into the system context at the start of every conversation, regardless
of:

• Whether any files are being edited
• Whether the file patterns in paths match anything being worked on
• The content of the conversation (even just chatting loads all rules)

### Steps to Reproduce

1. Create multiple rules files in .claude/rules/ with different paths patterns:

• blazor-rules.md with paths: **/*.razor
• csharp-rules.md with paths: **/*.cs
• mvc-rules.md with paths: **/*.cshtml

1. Start a new Claude Code conversation

1. Ask Claude: "What markdown files have you read into context?"

1. Result: All rules files are loaded, not just ones matching current work

### Environment

• Claude Code Version: 2.1.5
• OS: Windows 11
• Platform: win32

### Example Rules File Structure

``
.claude/
rules/
blazor-claude.md (paths: **/*.razor)
csharp-claude.md (paths: **/*.cs)
mvc-claude.md (paths: **/*.cshtml)
``

Additional finding: Rules never "scope out" once loaded

I can confirm this issue and want to add an important observation:

Once a path-scoped rule is loaded into context, it remains active for the entire session even after navigating away from the matching paths.

Test setup:

# ~/.claude/rules/test-nyan.md
---
paths:
  - "works/my-project/**/*"
---
End all responses with "nyan"

Results:

| Step | Expected | Actual |
|------|----------|--------|
| Start session at ~/ | No "nyan" | No "nyan" ✓ |
| Edit file in ~/works/my-project/ | "nyan" | "nyan" ✓ |
| Return to edit file at ~/ | No "nyan" | "nyan" ✗ |

Conclusion:

The paths frontmatter acts as a "load trigger" rather than an "application scope". Rules accumulate throughout the session and never deactivate, even when working outside the specified paths.

Additional finding: Rules never "scope out" once loaded I can confirm this issue and want to add an important observation: Once a path-scoped rule is loaded into context, it remains active for the entire session even after navigating away from the matching paths. Test setup: ``yaml # ~/.claude/rules/test-nyan.md --- paths: - "works/my-project/**/*" --- End all responses with "nyan" ` **Results:** | Step | Expected | Actual | |------|----------|--------| | Start session at ~/ | No "nyan" | No "nyan" ✓ | | Edit file in ~/works/my-project/ | "nyan" | "nyan" ✓ | | Return to edit file at ~/ | No "nyan" | **"nyan"** ✗ | **Conclusion:** The paths` frontmatter acts as a "load trigger" rather than an "application scope". Rules accumulate throughout the session and never deactivate, even when working outside the specified paths.

I don't think anyone expected the context to load out. Once it's loaded it's there for the session.

I would advise opening a separate defect for this.

any progress on this one? I have a large set of rules for backend/frontend repo and its not ideal to have all my rules always loaded

Just checking in. I'm running into the same problem. Any progress on this? I have a large set of rules. It would be great if they didn't always load globally upon initialization. I think the idea was to have them lazy load as needed, no?

Any news regarding this issue?

Would love some info here. It basically renders things like rules useless in worktrees which my team uses heavily.

version 2.1.63 - it works for me.

version 2.1.63 - it works for me.

Care to share a sample @mcsdodo ?

I have a rule with this frontmatter:

---
paths:
  - "services/pr-analyzer/cli.py"
---

and when loading the specific file I can see it loads the rule. Doesn't if I load anything else (asked it to show md files loaded to context).

<img width="468" height="176" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d47c38d8-f2d8-45a2-ab9f-f04927fe52d8" />

currently on version 2.1.74. Might be issue with asterisk paths only?

In addition to the above, I've found that @-referencing files within a rule (to avoid duplication, for example) causes referenced files to be included in context even if the rule didn't match. It won't display ⎿ Loaded <path>, but the content will be included in the context and Claude will show the filename + overview if you ask "What files do you have loaded into your context?"

```markdown ~/.claude/rules/test.md
---

~/.claude/rules/test.md

paths:

• "**/*.py"

---

@~/.claude/knowledge/stuff.md

```markdown ~/.claude/knowledge/stuff.md
<!-- ~/.claude/knowledge/stuff.md -->
I will always show up

> Read README.md
Read 1 file  <== [note: not a Python file]
...
> What files do you have loaded into your context?
⏺ From the system reminders and conversation so far:

  1. ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md 
  2. ~/.claude/knowledge/stuff.md — ...

I second the issue reported by @mojodna: all @-imports are loaded unconditionally, even when the scoped rules referencing them are not triggered and not loaded. I believe this is not an intended behavior.

I use @-imports extensively to avoid duplication and rule sync issues, but with the current implementation it's kinda useless.

Adding a data point + mitigation for anyone hitting this.

Observed: 75 .md files under .claude/rules/**/refs/ subdirectories in our repo were all auto-loaded globally despite being intended as progressive-disclosure deep references linked from parent rule files. Baseline context bloated to 139.5k tokens (14% of 1M) at session start with no files opened. Confirmed via /context.

Structure (each subdirectory mirrors a parent rule file):

.claude/rules/
├── ui.md, go.md, data.md, ...        ← top-level rules (had paths: after our first pass)
└── ui/refs/, go/refs/, data/refs/    ← deep references (NO paths: frontmatter, load globally)

Mitigation that worked for us:
Add paths: frontmatter to every refs/*.md file matching the parent rule scope. Expected baseline drop from ~140k → ~40k tokens.