The engine scans your unconfigured repo against 9 built-in rules. Each rule is a deterministic check. It produces no side effects. A matched rule attaches a rationale to a skill or hook in the proposed config. Rules do not gate your skills or hooks. The proposed config is default-all-enabled. Rules only surface why each target matters to your repo. You run this via python3 scripts/detect_project.py <cwd> --format json|text.

Question	Answer
What runs the rules?	scripts/detect_project.py — the RULES registry + detect().
How do I see the proposed config?	python3 scripts/detect_project.py <cwd> --format text
What's the machine-readable form?	python3 scripts/detect_project.py <cwd> --format json
What happens in a harness repo?	R-harness match → bypass verdict (skip detection; offer legacy .harness/ migration if present).
Do rules gate which skills/hooks are present?	No. The proposal is default-all-enabled; rules only overlay a per-target rationale (DC-7).
Related pages	Configure a new project, Project config, Auto-detect + auto-configure

The engine runs the rules in registry order. R-harness runs first. A bypass short-circuits before the rest. Each rule evaluates a side-effect-free Path -> Optional[RuleMatch]. A match overlays its rationale and rule_id onto the named targets. The targets sit in your already-default-enabled proposal.

Rule	Detects	Attaches rationale to	Notes
R-harness	harness/ dir and scripts/harness_memory.py present	— (sets bypass verdict)	This IS the harness source repo → detection is skipped. JSON reports legacy_harness_present: true when a .harness/ state dir is also present, to offer migration.
R-wiki	wiki/ dir present	diataxis-author skill	Diátaxis-shaped docs to maintain.
R-changelog	CHANGELOG.md and a language manifest (package.json / pyproject.toml / Cargo.toml / go.mod)	ship-release skill	Both signals required, not either-or.
R-dependabot	.github/dependabot.yml or .github/dependabot.yaml	dependabot-fixer skill	Helps fix breakage on update PRs.
R-pii	any .env* file (.env, .env.*)	pii-scrubber skill	Filename signal only — no content scanning. .envrc (direnv) is a known false positive the operator declines at approval; the decline is recorded in operator_overrides.
R-pkg-scripts	package.json with a non-empty scripts key, or a Makefile, or a justfile	kill-switch + steer hooks	Long-running tasks → interrupt + redirect.
R-vault-content	_index.md file, or decisions/ dir and conventions.md (checked at docs/conventions.md only — conventions.md moved to docs/ for a vault project under task 176 step 3, and a root copy no longer matches)	memory skill + the 4 memory hooks (memory-recall-session-start, memory-recall-prompt-submit, memory-reflect-idle, memory-reflect-stop)	Looks operator-personal → memory captures context.
R-design	wiki/explanation/designs/ or docs/design/ dir	design skill	Manages the design-then-implement pipeline.
R-non-coding	— (always returns None)	—	Stub in v1 per DC-6; the type taxonomy (build/vacation/research from _index.md frontmatter) is deferred to V5.

• Configure a new project — You use this operator recipe to consume these rules.
• Project config — You persist your matched rationale here in the project.json enablement block.
• Auto-detect + auto-configure — You learn here why detection proposes rather than gates.