Agent config files

Five files at your repo root tell coding agents how to use AlienMonster. They live at the root, not inside .alienmonster/, because that is where coding agents look for them.

npx alienmonster init writes all five on first run. Re-running init in an already-initialized repo refreshes the managed sections without touching your own content.

CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursorrules

Three files, same payload, different filenames. Each carries a managed section — a marker-delimited block that AlienMonster owns. The managed section contains:

• Your project's inlined strategy context
• Instructions telling the agent to consult the strategy repo before non-trivial changes
• A pointer to the MCP tools the agent can call

Markers look like this:

<!-- alienmonster:managed-begin -->
[Project-specific strategy context and instructions]
<!-- alienmonster:managed-end -->

[Your own content below — untouched by regeneration]

Which file matters depends on the agent: Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, OpenAI-compatible agents read AGENTS.md, older Cursor configurations read .cursorrules. Writing all three covers every client.

.claude/settings.json

Claude Code's per-repo settings file. AlienMonster adds a PreToolUse hook that runs alienmonster status before each of Claude Code's tool calls. The hook's job is to flag stale cache — if your local .alienmonster/ is behind the server, Claude Code warns before running a tool that might act on outdated strategy.

If .claude/settings.json already exists in your repo, init merges the hook in; it does not overwrite your other settings.

.cursor/rules/alienmonster.mdc

Cursor's new rules format. A .mdc file with frontmatter plus the same strategy instructions the managed section in CLAUDE.md carries. Cursor reads rules under .cursor/rules/ on every chat.

Refreshing after updates

When AlienMonster's agent-config templates change (new tool added, new instruction line), you can refresh by re-running init:

$ npx alienmonster init
  ℹ .alienmonster/ exists — refreshing managed sections
  ✅ Refreshed AlienMonster-managed section in CLAUDE.md
  ✅ Refreshed AlienMonster-managed section in AGENTS.md
  ✅ Refreshed AlienMonster-managed section in .cursorrules
  ✅ Merged AlienMonster hook into .claude/settings.json
  ✅ Updated .cursor/rules/alienmonster.mdc

Your own content stays intact — only the marker-delimited sections change. See CLI reference for the full init signature.