# Rules

> The editorial rules every draft is graded against, where they come from, and how to add, reword, switch off or retire one.

The Playbook's **Rules** tab is the standard Scout writes to. Every draft is graded against these rules, and the review score on each draft reports how many it met as "Your playbook 86%". The line under the heading counts them: "24 in force, 3 turned off. Every draft is graded against these."

![The Rules tab of the Playbook](/docs/screens/playbook-rules.png)
_Rules are grouped by what they govern. Each carries its origin and its history._

## Where rules come from

Three places, and each rule says which.

- **The standard editorial rubric** Scout starts every workspace with: accuracy, sourcing, structure, metadata.
- **Your documents.** Rules read from the brand guidelines, style guides and SOPs you gave Scout during setup or later under [Add your knowledge](/setup/add-your-knowledge). These carry a link to the source and the excerpt they were read from.
- **Your edits.** Patterns Scout noticed in how reviewers corrected drafts, proposed under [Learned rules](/playbook/learned-rules) and accepted by a person.

## The eight categories

| Category             | Covers                                               |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Accuracy**         | What has to be true, and what has to be sourced.     |
| **Voice**            | How your writing sounds when it is working.          |
| **ICP and audience** | Who the writing is for, and what they already know.  |
| **SEO and search**   | How a piece earns the search it is written for.      |
| **Structure**        | Shape, order and how a reader moves through a piece. |
| **Metadata**         | Titles, slugs and descriptions.                      |
| **Linking**          | Where a piece points, and why.                       |
| **Your own rules**   | Rules specific to this workspace.                    |

## What a rule card shows

- The rule itself, written as an instruction.
- Its **category** and **severity**. Severity decides what a failure does in review: a blocking rule stops a draft from being approved until the flag is dealt with; others raise a flag the reviewer weighs.
- **Provenance**: where it came from, with a link to the source document and the excerpt it was read from.
- **Confidence**, for rules Scout read or learned rather than was told.
- An **on/off toggle**. A rule that is off stays in the list but is not graded.
- **Edit** and **delete**.
- **"N versions"**, a disclosure that opens every earlier wording: "v2 · in force · 12 March 2026 · Dana".

## Adding and rewording

**Add a rule** opens a dialog with the guidance "Write it the way you would say it to a new writer on their first day." Its fields:

- **Name**.
- **The rule**, with the note "Specific enough that two reviewers would agree on whether a draft breaks it."
- **Category** and **Severity**.
- **Evaluation mode**: whether the rule is checked mechanically, by Scout reading the draft, or both.

Editing an existing rule opens the same dialog, headed **Edit this rule**, with the note "Rewording a rule keeps the old version. This becomes v3." Nothing is overwritten; the versions disclosure shows what changed and when.

Owners and admins can add, edit, toggle and delete rules. Everyone can read them.

## How rules are used in review

On every draft, Scout checks each rule in force and raises a flag for each one the draft breaks. The review sidebar shows the result as two numbers, the generic rubric and **Your playbook**, and lists the flags under **What Scout found**. A reviewer applies a fix, dismisses the flag with a reason, or sends it back with the draft. Dismissing with a reason is how Scout learns a rule is being read too literally. See [Flags, comments and sources](/content/flags-comments-and-sources).

## If the tab is empty

"Your playbook is empty. Scout starts every workspace with a standard editorial rubric and adds the rules it reads from your own style guides. If neither has happened yet, finish onboarding or add the first rule yourself."

## Related

- [Learned rules](/playbook/learned-rules)
- [Draft review](/content/draft-review)