# pr-to-lint-rule

This skill turns recurring review guidance into a custom lint rule and tests whether the checker matches the rule’s actual intent.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 436 installs · ★ 15
- Author: zernie
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/zernie/vigiles/tree/HEAD/.claude/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/pr-to-lint-rule

## What it does

The skill accepts a prose requirement or a `custom rule (⚙)` entry from a `vigiles audit` report. It inspects the repository to identify the main language, linter, test framework, and local rule conventions. Existing rules come first; synthesis is reserved for cases that need custom AST analysis, a fix, or options unavailable in the current tooling.

It writes the checker together with a separate intent test. That test covers safe lookalikes such as strings, comments, examples, and compliant calls, as well as alternate forms of the violation. A trust gate runs both sets: precision and recall must reach `1.0` before the rule is kept. If the checker leaks, the skill abstains and returns the requirement as prose. It runs only when explicitly invoked, so installing `vigiles` does not start synthesis.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zernie/vigiles --skill pr-to-lint-rule -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zernie/vigiles --skill pr-to-lint-rule -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zernie/vigiles --skill pr-to-lint-rule -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install zernie/vigiles pr-to-lint-rule
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zernie/vigiles --skill pr-to-lint-rule -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/zernie/vigiles --path .claude/skills/pr-to-lint-rule
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add zernie/vigiles --skill pr-to-lint-rule -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/zernie/vigiles/tree/HEAD/.claude/skills/pr-to-lint-rule/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- turn recurring review guidance into a lint rule
- reuse an existing rule before writing custom code
- test a checker against adversarial examples
- catch false positives in strings and comments
- detect missed aliases and alternate violations

## Example prompts
- Turn this review rule into a lint check: do not import directly from `antd`; use the design-system barrel.
- Create a custom rule for replacing `console.log` with our logger, then test its intent independently.
- Convert the requirement that API calls use `withRetry` into a checker after reading the repository.

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: eca55f4658bb02c1.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE eca55f4658bb02c1
````text
---
name: pr-to-lint-rule
description: Synthesize a recurring code-review rule into a custom lint rule — gated by an independent soundness test that abstains rather than ship a checker it can't prove sound
disable-model-invocation: true
argument-hint: <a prose rule, or a "custom rule (⚙)" line from a vigiles audit>
---

Turn a prose rule that **no off-the-shelf linter rule matches** into a custom
lint rule — the opt-in **synthesis** step. This is the hand-off target of the
**custom rule (⚙)** lane in a `vigiles audit` rule map: audit maps a rule there
when it looks enforceable but nothing off-the-shelf fits. You invoke this skill
explicitly; nothing here runs on its own, and installing vigiles never starts
synthesizing anything.

The point of this skill is **not** "write a checker." A model can write a
plausible-looking checker in seconds. The point is the discipline that makes the
result **trustworthy**: synthesize the rule **and** an independent test that
encodes the rule's real _intent_, run the checker against adversarial cases it
didn't author, and **abstain** — hand it back as prose — if it leaks. A checker
that matches a rule's _surface_ but not its _intent_ gives false confidence
(the measured failure mode: most naively-synthesized checkers silently leak).
Shipping a green check nobody should trust is worse than shipping nothing.

## Arguments

`$ARGUMENTS` — a prose rule to enforce. Either a **custom rule (⚙)** line copied
from a `vigiles audit` report, or free text. Examples:

- "we keep telling people not to import directly from antd — use our design-system barrel"
- "people forget to use our custom logger instead of console.log"
- "wrap outbound API calls in our `withRetry` helper"
- "route handlers must go through the `withAuth` wrapper"

## The pipeline

```
prose rule
  → detect language + linter (ask if ambiguous)
  → REUSE first: does an off-the-shelf rule already fit? → use it, STOP (no synthesis)
  → clarify intent + read the codebase (what exactly is the violation? the fix?)
  → SYNTHESIZE: the rule  +  an INDEPENDENT intent-encoding test (adversarial cases)
  → TRUST GATE: run the checker on that test; precision AND recall must be 1.0
        pass → KEPT     (safe to enforce; wire it in)
        leak → ABSTAIN  (hand back as prose; never ship a checker it can't prove sound)
```

## Instructions

### Step 1 — Detect the language and toolchain

Read the repo to find the **primary language**, the **linter in use** (ESLint,
Ruff, Pylint, Clippy, RuboCop, Stylelint…), the **test framework**, and any
**existing custom rules** (to match conventions). If you cannot confidently pick
one — polyglot repo, no linter config, several candidates — **ask the user**
before generating anything.

### Step 2 — REUSE before you synthesize (ADOPT > REUSE > SYNTHESIZE)
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE eca55f4658bb02c1

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