HOW directives

A directive frames the objectives of its block and of its descendants. It creates no objective and no scope.

FROM @packages {
  HOW {
    LIMIT FILE TO 250 LINES;
    LIMIT PARAMETERS TO 4;
    NAMING FILES kebab-case;
    FOLLOW KISS, YAGNI;
    PACKAGES NO_NEW;
  }
  FROM @packages/pql {
    LIMIT FILE TO 200 LINES;          // tightens the inherited 250
    PREFER "Plain functions" OVER "Classes";
    ADD "The PQL lexer";
  }
}

Strengths

Forms and placement

Directives end with ;. Write them directly in a block or group them in HOW { }: both are equivalent. HOW takes no parameter, holds directives only (and calls of how functions), and several HOW blocks add up.

Directives sit in the preamble of their block, with stop rules and policy references, before any objective, child scope or condition chain. A directive in a branch applies only when the branch is selected.

Directives

A target is a string or an @ reference and may name code the objectives create. Package names are strings: "@scope/name" is a package, never a path. Registered identifiers are listed in the cheatsheet; unknown ones are refused with the known list.

Bounds are inclusive and measured: LINES counts lines (a final line ending adds none), KB is 1,000 bytes and KIB 1,024. The compiled prompt tells Claude never to claim compliance it has not measured.

Inheritance and conflicts

Directives accumulate. A child never removes an inherited directive, and the order of declaration never decides a conflict: the compiler reports it.

Other errors