# Writing a custom rule | PMD Source Code Analyzer
Keywords: extendinguserdocs,

# Writing a custom rule

The information on this page has been split into several separate pages. Please update your bookmarks:

- Introduction to writing rules
  - Your First Rule introduces the basic development process of a rule with a running example
  - Writing XPath Rules explains a bit more about XPath rules and our XPath API
  - Writing Java Rules describes how to write a rule in Java

To go further:

- Defining Properties describes how to make your rules more configurable with rule properties
- Testing your Rules introduces our testing framework and how you can use it to safeguard the quality of your rule

Tags: extending userdocs