Import Depth Within Limit

Import chains in root instruction files should be bounded. Deep import hierarchies increase context loading time and create fragile dependency chains; a change to a deeply nested file can silently break import resolution of files several levels up. The CORE check enforces a permissive absolute ceiling (10 hops) — agents whose @<path> syntax has a documented behavior should declare a per-agent supersede stub with the actual threshold. Of the agents currently in the registry: Claude defines a 5-hop hard limit (see CLAUDE:S:0010); Cursor's @filename is single-level only (see CURSOR:S:0002); Gemini supports chained @file.md imports without a documented max and inherits the CORE ceiling; Codex and Copilot declare CORE:S:0033 in their config.yml excludes: because their instruction files do not honor any @<path> inclusion syntax.

Antipatterns

• Transitive chaining. CLAUDE.md imports docs/setup.md, which imports docs/details/config.md, which imports docs/details/advanced/tuning.md, which imports a deeper file, hitting the 5-hop limit. Any broken link past depth 5 is silently dropped.
• Circular imports. File A imports B, B imports C, C imports A. The resolver must detect and break the cycle, but the author likely didn't intend it.
• Import as organization substitute. Using @import chains to simulate a file hierarchy instead of structuring content into focused files that the agent loads directly.

Pass / Fail

Pass

<!-- CLAUDE.md (depth 0) -->
@import docs/testing.md

<!-- docs/testing.md (depth 1) -->
@import docs/style/formatting.md

<!-- docs/style/formatting.md (depth 2) -->
@import docs/style/fixtures.md

<!-- docs/style/fixtures.md (depth 3) — within limit -->
# Test Fixtures
Use `conftest.py` for shared setup.

Fail

<!-- CLAUDE.md (depth 0) -->
@import docs/overview.md
<!-- docs/overview.md → docs/details.md → docs/internals.md →
     docs/deep/a.md → docs/deep/b.md → docs/deep/c.md  ← depth 6, exceeds 5 -->

Limitations

Counts import depth from the root instruction file. Does not evaluate whether deep imports are justified by project complexity. Only follows @-prefixed inclusion syntax — agent-specific alternatives that don't use @<path> are not detected. The CORE-level threshold of 10 is a deliberately permissive sanity ceiling; per-agent supersede stubs (e.g., CLAUDE:S:0010 at 5 hops) carry the agent's documented hard limit. Agents that don't support chained imports declare excludes: [CORE:S:0033] in their config.yml so the rule never runs against their files.