Use case · Instructions
I paste the same rules into every session. Write them once, and your agents follow them.
Write your custom instructions one time in Settings, 4,096 characters at most. They set how your connected agents answer on every machine, and your message in the turn still wins.
A new session. The agent forgot your rules again.
// new session, again You: Keep answers short. No wall of text. You: Never touch code or technical terms. You: Now fix the failing test.
Without a standing rule, you paste the same lines at the start of each session.
Write the rules one time, in Settings.
// Settings → Instructions · 4,096 characters at most
Keep answers short. No wall of text.
Never touch code or technical terms.Click Save. Every new conversation carries the text from now on.
Same rules on the work laptop and the home laptop.
Without Instructions
- Paste the rules in each session
- Copy a rules file into each repo
- Each machine set up by hand
With Instructions
- One text on your account
- Claude Code and Codex
- Every machine, no file to copy
Connect each machine once with npx @context-mode/cli.
You want detail for one turn only.
Instructions: Keep answers short. Your message: Explain each change in detail. The agent: explains each change in detail.
Instructions are a standing rule. What you ask in the turn wins.
You paste a very long rule set.
// Settings → Instructions Over 4,096 characters: refused, not cut.
Nothing is cut in silence. Make the text shorter and save again.
Each new session starts blank. You type the same rules again.
"Keep answers short." "Never touch code or technical terms." You type it at the start of each session.
A rules file in one repo does not reach the next repo. You copy it, and each change means a new copy.
Rules in your home folder stay on that laptop. A second machine starts with none.
One text on your account. Every request carries it.
- 01Write your rules
Open Settings in the console, find the Instructions card, type your rules and click Save.
- 02Every request carries them
Context Mode adds the text at the start of the conversation. Your client's files and system prompt do not change.
- 03Your message still wins
Ask for detail in one turn, and you get detail. Clear the box and save to turn the rules off.
- Work laptop
- Home laptop
- Any repo
- Your rules, saved once
- Added at the start of each new conversation
- Read from the cache
- Your message wins
Room for real rules. Almost no cost per turn.
| Instructions | Paste or rules files | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the rules live | One text on your account | Each session, repo or laptop |
| Agents | Claude Code and Codex | One agent per file |
| New machine | Ready once connected | Set up home-folder files again |
Instructions change how the agent writes, not what it does. To stop an action, use Protect. Sessions that go direct to the provider do not get Instructions. How it is applied →
Set it up with Instructions.
Rules you write once. Every request from your connected agents carries them.
Where to set them, the default text, how they are applied, and what they cost.
Facts learned from your sessions. Instructions are the rules you write yourself.
Stop pasting your rules. Write them once.
npx @context-mode/cli connects your agents. Start free: 1,000 requests, every feature, no card.