Global Roo Rules

[deathtothenig]

Well, I guess you already have this. Cool. I never noticed it before because it's not apparent in the settings area.

[mrubens]

Good point

[deathtothenig]

You could probably mention it in these texts, with a link to the docs that show you where to put the global .roo/rules. Like this:

Instructions can also be loaded from the .roo/rules/ folder in your workspace or from the global .roo/rules/ (.roorules and .clinerules are deprecated and will stop working soon).

Custom instructions specific to 💻 Code mode can also be loaded from the .roo/rules-code/ folder in your workspace or from the global .roo/rules-code/ (.roorules-code and .clinerules-code are deprecated and will stop working soon).

[airtonix]

Not sure if this was the case when you made this thread, but a lot of this is documented in https://docs.roocode.com/features/custom-modes#methods-for-creating-and-configuring-custom-modes.

Admittedly, the whole page reads like a run on sentence for someone reminding themselves about internal tribal knowledge.

A good start to documentation pages whose context is "configuration files", should really start with a brief TLDR dot point list of places config files go:

Roo Code's custom modes allow you to create specialized AI assistants tailored for specific tasks or workflows.

Custom modes can be global (available across all projects) or project-specific, and feature "Sticky Models" that remember your preferred AI model for each mode.

Each custom mode includes configurable properties like role definition, tool group access (read, edit, browser, command), file restrictions, and custom instructions. You can create modes through the UI, by asking Roo directly, or by manually editing configuration files in YAML or JSON format.

The system supports import/export functionality for sharing modes, and includes advanced features like regex-based file restrictions and mode-specific instruction files.

Config File Locations

• Global modes: custom_modes.yaml (preferred) or custom_modes.json (Location managed by your vscode install)
• Project modes: .roomodes file (YAML or JSON format) in project root
• Mode-specific rules directory: .roo/rules-{mode-slug}/ (preferred method)
• Legacy rules file: .roorules-{mode-slug} (fallback method)
• Legacy compatibility: .clinerules-{mode-slug} (backward compatibility)
• Global rules directory: ~/.roo/rules-{slug}/ (for global modes)
• Generic shared rules: .roo/rules/ (shared across all modes)

The directory-based rules method takes precedence over single files, and project-level configurations completely override global ones when slugs match.

[airtonix]

also...

why do the global rules not live in ~/.roo/roomodes which is probably the most predictable place for everyone to find it.

instead, for some mysterious reason (that users don't care about) it's in a place managed by vscode:

~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/rooveterniaryinc.roo-cline/settings/custom_modes.yaml

Really... this should just be in ~/.roo/{roomodes, roomodes.yml, roomodes.yaml, roomodes.json}