# House rules

> House rules are the rules in your company brief plus what you allow without asking. They decide what your assistants do after the work.

House rules are how you tell your company how you want things done. They are two things together:

1. **The rules in your company brief.** The note every assistant reads before it works.
2. **What you allow without asking.** The auto-approve switches in [Settings](https://stellarfirm.ai/app/settings).

Everything the assistants do after the work follows from these. Two companies can give the Coder the same goal and get different outcomes, because their house rules differ.

## What the house rules decide

| Question | Decided by |
| --- | --- |
| After the Coder finishes, does it open a pull request for review, or go further? | Your rules in the company brief, and what you allow without asking. |
| Does a risky step stop and wait for you? | The CEO approves risky steps as your house rules require. |
| How should the Coder name branches, write descriptions, and run tests? | Your rules in the company brief. |
| Which kinds of step may happen without asking? | Auto-approve in Settings. Only you can turn it on. |

The default first-run outcome is a draft pull request waiting for your review. From there, your house rules take over. The Coder can open a pull request for review, or ship when your house rules allow it.

## Merge policy

Your house rules set one of three merge policies for the Coder:

| Merge policy | What the Coder does after the work |
| --- | --- |
| **Review only** (the default) | Opens a pull request for review. You or your team merge it. |
| **Merge after CEO approval** | Opens a pull request, then merges it once the CEO approves the merge as your house rules require. |
| **Auto merge on green** | Merges once every check on the pull request passes, with no extra ask. |

Shipping to production is its own rule, set beside the merge policy. **Never** (the default) means the Coder does not deploy. **Ship after CEO approval** uses the same approval step as any other production deploy. **Ship automatically after a merge** deploys once a merge has landed. The Coder does not merge when checks are failing or still running. Risky steps still wait for Approve, as your house rules require.

Start with review only, and move to a wider policy once you have read a handful of the Coder's diffs.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Steps that reach other people, such as opening a pull request, always ask today. Auto-approve switches cover production actions and deletions. See [approvals](/docs/ceo/approvals).

## Write your rules

Your company brief is where the written rules live. Every assistant reads it before it works, and uses it from its next message after you save it.

1. Open the **Start here** guides in the app.
2. Choose the step **Write your company brief**.
3. Fill in the brief: what you do, who you serve, how you sound, and your rules.
4. Choose **Save to your assistants**.

Keep the rules short and concrete. A rule an assistant can check is better than a hope.

### Examples of rules

| Area | Example rule |
| --- | --- |
| Review | Open every pull request for review. Do not ship anything without my approval. |
| Size | Keep each pull request under one clear change. Split anything bigger. |
| Tests | Run the tests before opening a pull request, and say what you ran. |
| Branches | Name branches after the ticket. Never work on the main branch. |
| Style | Follow the conventions already in the repository. Add no new dependencies without asking. |
| Safe areas | Never touch billing, authentication, or the database layout without asking me first. |
| Reports | End every job with a three-line summary: what changed, what to check, what is left. |

## What you allow without asking

The second half of house rules is in [Settings](https://stellarfirm.ai/app/settings) under **Auto-approve**. Each switch is off until you turn it on, and StellarFirm asks you to confirm.

Turn on a switch only when you would be comfortable hearing about that kind of step afterwards. Leave it off if you want to see every one first. You can change your mind at any time.

## How the CEO follows them

The CEO assistant reads your company brief along with every other assistant. When it briefs the Coder, it carries your rules into the brief and marks what waits for your Approve. It never turns on auto-approve for you, and no assistant can.

## Prompts to set rules

```prompt title="Draft my house rules"
CEO, help me write house rules for my company. Ask me up to five questions about how I want pull requests, tests, and releases handled, then draft the rules as a short list.
```

```prompt title="Add one rule"
CEO, add this rule to how my assistants work: [rule]. Tell me which assistants it affects and what changes.
```

```prompt title="Review pull requests first"
CEO, every pull request must be opened for my review. Do not ship anything unless I say so in the same message.
```

```prompt title="Ask what is allowed"
CEO, what are my house rules right now, and what may my assistants do without asking me?
```

## Next

- [Approvals](/docs/ceo/approvals): how requests and auto-approve work.
- [CEO prompt guide](/docs/ceo/prompt-guide)
- [Approvals and control](/docs/trust/approvals-and-control)

---

Source: https://stellarfirm.ai/docs/ceo/house-rules