contexture
AGENTS.md2 starsChanged 6 days agoMITView on GitHub
Generated by skills/project-instructions/project-instructions.mjs from the discipline corpus. Do not hand-edit — edit architectural-rules/ and re-run. Vendor-neutral; read by Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and local models. (Claude Code uses CLAUDE.md + the corpus directly.) Be objective, direct, honest — not supportive-by-default, not reflexively contrarian. Weigh trade-offs and give a reasoned position; never just accept or reject. Surface weak reasoning, hidden assumptions, and the real cost of a choice even when unasked. A helper is most useful when honest, not agreeable. ✅ Always:…
- Reads credentials
Where files are headingNew AGENTS.md files have more rules about keeping secrets out of the code, and fewer about code style.
Of the AGENTS.md files we read, the 31,843 first seen in the last six months, against the older ones: the kind of rule that gained most share, and the kind that lost most. About files like this in general, not this one, and an estimate, since a kind is a pattern in the words.
In this repository47 other files it gives its agents.
- .github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- autonomizeSkill
- blueprintSkill
- brainstormSkill
- captureSkill
- checkpointSkill
- close-outSkill
- coordinateSkill
- cycleSkill
- deliverSkill
- design-proposalSkill
- discoverSkill
- dispatchSkill
- draft-planSkill
- envisionSkill
- executeSkill
- extract-conventionsSkill
- glossarySkill
- humanizeSkill
- human-viewSkill
- improve-promptSkill
- memory-auditSkill
- new-agentSkill
- new-agents-mdSkill
- new-hookSkill
- new-mcpSkill
- orchestrateSkill
- pr-authorSkill
- prepSkill
- pre-pushSkill
- pr-triageSkill
- recapSkill
- retrospect-coreSkill
- reviewSkill
- rulesSkill
- shortcutsSkill
- specSkill
- systematic-debuggingSkill
- test-driven-developmentSkill
- update-changelogSkill
- update-codemapSkill
- using-git-worktreesSkill
- visualise-codemapSkill
- visualSkill
- work-stateSkill
- wrapSkill
- write-testsSkill
The file
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
4 rules. About 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈2
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
2
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- could be automatic: a setting could enforce it
- Very specific: line 13
Verify install / drift: node bootstrap/bootstrap.js --verify
- Distinctive: line 18
Run the repo's test suite before committing.
- Very specific: line 22
Read .claude/codemap.md for the file-by-file map (purpose + exports).
- Distinctive: line 33
Never add AI attribution to commits or PRs (no Co-Authored-By, no "Generated with", no robot emoji).
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 40,246 AGENTS.md files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
AGENTS.md
Generated by
skills/project-instructions/project-instructions.mjsfrom the discipline corpus. Do not hand-edit — editarchitectural-rules/and re-run. Vendor-neutral; read by Codex, Cursor, Copilot, and local models. (Claude Code usesCLAUDE.md+ the corpus directly.)
Stance (how to engage)
Be objective, direct, honest — not supportive-by-default, not reflexively contrarian. Weigh trade-offs and give a reasoned position; never just accept or reject. Surface weak reasoning, hidden assumptions, and the real cost of a choice even when unasked. A helper is most useful when honest, not agreeable.
Commands
- Codemap (read before exploring):
node skills/update-codemap/codemap.mjswrites.claude/codemap.md - Codemap diagrams:
node skills/visualise-codemap/visualise-codemap.mjs - Verify install / drift:
node bootstrap/bootstrap.js --verify - (Project-specific test/lint/build commands: see the repo README or ask — fill these in per repo.)
Testing
- Run the repo's test suite before committing. Each change should be verifiable; a change with no way to tell if it worked is incomplete.
Project structure
- Read
.claude/codemap.mdfor the file-by-file map (purpose + exports). Readarchitectural-rules/for the conventions. Read.claude/architecture.mdif present. - Reusable skills are auto-discovered as Agent Skills from
.claude/skills/(runnode bootstrap/bootstrap.jsonce after cloning to generate it; committed source is repo-rootskills/).
Code style
- Architectural rules live in
architectural-rules/<scope>/:universal/always applies;<language>/applies when editing that language;config-authoring/when editing skills/agents/rules/hooks. Read the ones matching what you touch. - Match existing style. Surgical edits — do not "improve" adjacent code.
Git workflow
- One concern per commit; clear messages. Branch for feature work (
feature/<slug>), merge--no-ff. - Never add AI attribution to commits or PRs (no Co-Authored-By, no "Generated with", no robot emoji).
Boundaries (the ✅ / ⚠️ / 🚫 block — projected verbatim)
✅ Always: read the codemap + applicable rules before coding; plan non-trivial work; one concern per commit; match existing style.
⚠️ Ask first: present a plan and wait for confirmation before non-trivial changes; before deleting pre-existing code you didn't write; before cross-cutting refactors.
🚫 Never: commit secrets / credentials / .env files; add AI attribution to commits or PRs (no Co-Authored-By, no "Generated with", no robot emoji); hardcode machine-specific paths or the owner's identity into shipped artefacts; force-push shared branches.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

