Projection rules for a GIS package should activate only while editing matching geo modules. What does that illustrate?

Projection rules for a GIS package that activate only while editing matching geo modules illustrate conditional rule activation based on the paths of files being edited. That is the core mental model for path-specific .claude/rules/: relevance is path-driven, not session-global.

Conditional activation works because GIS projection and CRS guidance is high-value next to geo modules and low-value elsewhere. Claude Code evaluates edited paths against rule frontmatter and loads matching rules, so municipal GIS engineers get projection constraints when they need them without lecturing every parking-ticket UI session.

Rules must not load for every file in the repository on every keystroke; that denies the conditional design and wastes tokens. Projection guidance does not belong solely in a personal slash command never versioned, because package conventions should be shared via the repo. Plan mode is not required before any path rule can be read; plan mode is an interaction mode for designing changes, orthogonal to whether path rules load during edits.

Exam caveat: conditional path activation is a rules-loading concept, independent of plan mode and independent of slash commands. Operational check: open a matching geo module and confirm projection rules activate; switch to a non-geo file and confirm they deactivate.