Custom Instructions

Custom Instructions allow you to personalize how Sypha behaves, providing specific guidance that shapes responses, coding style, and decision-making processes.

What Are Custom Instructions?

Custom Instructions define specific Extension behaviors, preferences, and constraints beyond Sypha's basic role definition. Examples include coding style, documentation standards, testing requirements, and workflow guidelines.

Custom Instructions are IDE-wide and are applied across all workspaces and maintain your preferences regardless of which project you're working on. Unlike Instructions, Custom Rules are project specific and allow you to setup workspace-based ruleset.

Setting Custom Instructions

How to set them:

1. Open Modes Tab: Click the [notebook] icon in the Sypha top menu bar
2. Find Section: Find the "Custom Instructions for All Modes" section
3. Enter Instructions: Enter your instructions in the text area
4. Save Changes: Click "Done" to save your changes

Mode-Specific Instructions

Mode-specific instructions can be set using the Modes Tab

• Open Tab: Click the [notebook] icon in the Sypha top menu bar

• Select Mode: Under the Modes heading, click the button for the mode you want to customize

• Enter Instructions: Enter your instructions in the text area under "Mode-specific Custom Instructions (optional)"

• Save Changes: Click "Done" to save your changes

  If the mode itself is global (not workspace-specific), any custom instructions you set for it will also apply globally for that mode across all workspaces.

Mode-Specific Instructions from Files

For version-controlled mode instructions, use the mode rules file paths documented in Custom Modes:

• Preferred: .sypha/rules-{mode-slug}/ (directory)
• Fallback: .sypharules-{mode-slug} (single file)

Older naming like .sypharules-{mode-slug} is not the recommended path for current Sypha mode-specific instructions.

Related Features

• Custom Modes
• Custom Rules
• Settings Management
• Auto-Approval Settings