Answers
My agent keeps following an instruction that is no longer true. How do I retire a rule?
A rule written in an instruction file has no owner, no date and no condition that ends it, so nothing in the file says it was overtaken, and the agent keeps following it until a person happens to edit the line. The Claude Code documentation I read says as much from its own side: if two instructions contradict each other Claude may pick one arbitrarily, and it advises reviewing the CLAUDE.md files periodically to remove outdated or conflicting instructions. Which file a tool reads is also not obvious: by default Claude reads AGENTS.md only when there is no CLAUDE.md in the working directory or above it, and a CLAUDE.local.md counts as one. So a retired rule can survive in a file nobody thought was in play. For each rule, check three things: who decided it, when it stops being valid, and which file the tool actually reads. Arroway's recommendation is that what governs belongs in the project record, where someone sees and approves it. There a decision carries who decided it, since when it holds and what ends it, and a rule that ended stops being served. The install page is the first step.
Last updated October 20, 2026
Why the retired rule keeps winning
A superseded rule reads exactly like a live one. Nothing in a line of text records that it was decided in March for a migration that ended in June, so the agent treats it as current, and keeps doing so correctly by its own logic. Add a second file that says the opposite and the conflict is invisible too: the documentation says an agent may pick one of two contradicting instructions arbitrarily, so the outcome can change from one session to the next with nobody having touched anything.
What to check today
For every rule in the files your agents read, answer three questions. Who decided it, and can you find that person? When does it stop being valid, as a date or an event? Which file does the tool read, in the setup you actually use? The last one is the one people skip. In Claude Code's documentation, read on 20 October 2026, the default is to read CLAUDE.md files and to read AGENTS.md only when there is no CLAUDE.md or CLAUDE.local.md in the working directory or above, and a setting called Project instructions changes that between four values. Another tool may read neither, or both. A rule you retired from one file can still be in force through the other.
When to use Arroway
Use Arroway when the rule that was overtaken is a decision the team made, and you want it retired for every agent at once. Each rule or decision is recorded with who decided it, since when it holds and the condition that ends it. When a piece of work makes that condition true, the rule is retired as part of recording that work, and a newer decision names the one it replaces, so the old one leaves the next read and stays in the history. The assistant receives only what is in force. Retiring a rule is never done by an assistant alone: a person approves changes to what governs, and a person can reverse a retirement from the panel. Arroway does not read your instruction files or tell you which rules in them are stale. The first step is the install page.
What it looks like in practice
A team writes a line in its instruction file in March: new endpoints go through the legacy gateway while the migration runs. The migration ends in June. Nobody deletes the line, because deleting it is nobody's job and it was never wrong. In July an agent builds a new endpoint through the legacy gateway, exactly as the file says, and a second agent, reading a CLAUDE.local.md a teammate added, does not read the AGENTS.md where the line lives and builds it the other way. Recorded in Arroway, the same rule says in March that it ends when the migration completes. In June, recording the migration retires it, and the next session of any tool reads the project without it. Constructed case; nothing here was measured on a real team.
Questions people ask about this
- Where do I find out which file my tool reads?
- In the tool's own documentation, for the version and settings you use. Claude Code's memory page describes the default and the setting that changes it; other tools differ. Check before you assume that deleting a line in one file retired it.
- Who retires a rule in Arroway?
- The condition that ends it is written with the rule, and recording the work that makes it true retires it. A decision that replaces an earlier one names it. A person approves what governs, and can reverse a retirement from the panel.
- How do I try Arroway?
- Install it in the tool you already use — the install page has one route for Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor or any MCP tool — and sign in when the tool asks. From then on, sessions open by reading the project and close by recording what was decided.
Where this is verifiable
The memory page of the Claude Code documentation (code.claude.com/docs/en/memory), read on 20 October 2026, for the default of reading AGENTS.md only when no CLAUDE.md applies, the Project instructions setting, the note that contradicting instructions may be picked arbitrarily and the advice to review the files periodically; the tool is described only as its page describes it on that date, and it can change in any release. Questions asked publicly on X between 14 and 15 October 2026 about stale and buried instructions in AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md, described and not quoted. Product documentation on this site (How it works, Install) and the rules of expiry and supersession in the sanctioned product spec. Everything described here about Arroway is behaviour the tools apply today, not roadmap. The team in the example is illustrative.
https://www.arroway.app/en/answers/stale-instruction-the-agent-keeps-following