Add Anti-Sycophancy Code Discipline rules under Build Tools and Development

[ejentum]

Adds rules/anti-sycophancy-code-discipline-cursorrules-prompt-file.mdc, a standalone Cursor rule file with 17 directives that target the most common LLM coding honesty failures:

• Hallucinated APIs and invented function signatures (rules 1, 2)
• False-confidence validation without evidence (rules 3, 4, 5)
• Refactor discipline preserving invariants (rules 6, 7)
• Sycophancy resistance: manufactured urgency, authority appeals, softening of real risk, holding position under pushback (rules 8, 9, 10, 11)
• Comment honesty: no restated-code, no self-referential comments (rules 12, 13)
• Uncertainty acknowledgment and trade-off surfacing (rules 14, 15)
• Verification rigor and honest status reporting (rules 16, 17)

Format follows the modern .mdc + YAML-frontmatter convention. No companion files, no setup section, no external dependencies. README adds one entry alphabetically under Build Tools and Development, after Anti-Over-Engineering and before Chrome Extension.

Why this rule belongs in the repo

The existing Anti-Over-Engineering rule covers scope discipline (only change what was asked, no unrequested abstractions). The existing Code Guidelines rule covers general coding hygiene (file-by-file changes, no apologies, no whitespace suggestions).

This rule complements both with directives specifically for the honesty axis of code generation, things the existing rules do not address: blocking hallucinated function calls before they hit a repo, refusing to validate code without evidence, holding technical positions against authority appeals and urgency pressure, and reporting status truthfully when asked.

Note on prior submission

A previous attempt (#278) was correctly closed for reading as promotion for an external tool rather than reusable rule content. This rework strips all of that: zero external service references in the rule content, no setup section, no companion README, single .mdc file matching the current repo convention, no author byline. The rule works for any Cursor user regardless of what MCP servers they have installed.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added Anti-Sycophancy Code Discipline guidelines with 17 directives to enhance code integrity and verification standards across the development process.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 9d61f1b5-57f3-43b2-821a-f1be17df9695

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4467ad4 and b85640c.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• README.md
• rules/anti-sycophancy-code-discipline-cursorrules-prompt-file.mdc

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR adds a new Cursor rules discipline focused on anti-sycophancy and code correctness. A new .mdc file containing 17 directives is introduced, with a corresponding README entry documenting and linking to the new rule.

Changes

Anti-Sycophancy Code Discipline

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Anti-Sycophancy Code Discipline rules and documentation rules/anti-sycophancy-code-discipline-cursorrules-prompt-file.mdc, README.md	New .mdc file with 17 directives governing LLM verification of dependencies, edge-case handling, evidence-based validation, compile vs. correctness distinction, invariant preservation, test prioritization, and uncertainty acknowledgment. README updated with entry linking to and describing the new discipline.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Suggested reviewers

• PatrickJS

Poem

A rabbit hops through code with care,
Seventeen rules beyond compare,
No sycophant shall lead astray,
When discipline holds sway today. 🐰✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: adding a new Anti-Sycophancy Code Discipline rule to the README under Build Tools and Development.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description comprehensively covers the Summary, Contribution Type, Value To Cursor Users, Added Or Changed Files, and Quality Checklist sections with thorough explanations of the rule's purpose, differentiators, and alignment with repo conventions.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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