The rules manifest and the extra file

The rules text is rendered from rules/manifest.json. That file ships with the plugin and is a build source: the full text, the condensed reminder, and the JustSaySo Vale style all come from it. Edit it and the next plugin update overwrites it, so your changes go in a file of your own.

The shape

Sections of bullets. Each bullet has an id, a full text, an optional short text, and a vale list naming the Vale rules that check it. A bullet with an empty vale list is a judgment rule: the model follows it, and no linter checks it.

{
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Project rules",
      "rules": [
        { "id": "undefined-term", "full": "On first use of a term the reader may not know, define it in the same sentence.", "short": "Define a term on first use.", "vale": [] },
        { "id": "no-em-dash", "full": "Do not use em dashes.", "short": "No em dashes.", "vale": ["ai-tells.EmDashUsage"] }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

A bullet with a short text joins the condensed reminder. The vale list ties the bullet to its rules: the reminder drops the bullet when every one of those rules is turned off, and the summary classifies a tag with the bullet’s id as Vale-backed.

The extra file

Put a file named .just-say-so-rules.json in the project root, or in a directory above it, in the shape above. The plugin finds it with no setting; rules.extra names a different path when you want one.

• A bullet with a new id is appended under the file’s own section.
• A bullet with the id of a shipped bullet replaces it in place, text, short, and Vale rules alike, and keeps its slot in the reminder while it has a short text.
• { "id": "headings-and-lists", "drop": true } removes a shipped bullet from the full text and the reminder.

The doctor reports the file in force with its added, replaced, and dropped counts, and warns about a drop that matches no id or a bullet that names a Vale rule no installed style has. /just-say-so:draft writes bullets in this shape for the Vale rules your project enforces.

The manifest override

rules.manifest replaces the shipped rules outright with a manifest of your own. A full manifest is more than an extra file: it also carries the title the rules text opens with, the intro line under it, and condensed, the list of bullet ids in the order the reminder prints them. The renderer reads condensed to build the reminder; it does not infer the order from which bullets have a short text. An extra file needs none of those, because it merges into a manifest that has them.

{
  "title": "House rules",
  "intro": "Apply to all prose: chat, docs, reports, answers.",
  "condensed": ["lead", "define-on-first-use"],
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Shape",
      "rules": [
        { "id": "lead", "full": "Lead with the answer, decision, result, or required action.", "short": "Lead with the answer.", "vale": [] },
        { "id": "define-on-first-use", "full": "On first use of a term the reader may not know, define it in the same sentence.", "short": "Define a term on first use.", "vale": [] }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

A bullet left out of condensed appears in the full text only. You then get no new shipped bullets on upgrade. The generated JustSaySo style still carries the shipped terms; put your own terms in a Vale style of your own and set JustSaySo = NO in .vale.ini where you disagree. The extra file still merges on top.

Messages

The sentences the hooks say, the violation report, the rewrite instruction, the confirmation prompt, live in rules/messages.json. rules.messagesPath names a JSON file that overrides any subset of them by key, for a different wording or another language. The per-term hints in the Vale messages come from the manifest; a full translation edits both.