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Inheritance Rules

The workspace overlay resolves a requested file by walking from the most specific folder back to broader layers.

For expenses/escalation/GUARDRAILS.md, ThinkWork checks:

  1. Agent override at expenses/escalation/GUARDRAILS.md
  2. Agent override at expenses/GUARDRAILS.md
  3. Agent override at GUARDRAILS.md
  4. Template file at expenses/escalation/GUARDRAILS.md
  5. Template file at expenses/GUARDRAILS.md
  6. Template root file at GUARDRAILS.md
  7. Default workspace file at GUARDRAILS.md

Pinned files use path-qualified keys:

GUARDRAILS.md
expenses/GUARDRAILS.md
expenses/escalation/GUARDRAILS.md

Root keys stay short because the path is unambiguous. Nested keys include the folder path so a template update badge can appear on the exact file that needs review.

When AGENTS.md changes, ThinkWork invalidates the composer cache. The running container picks up the new map on the next turn; no restart is needed.