RELAI
AGENTS.md2 starsChanged 10 days agoApache-2.0View on GitHub
Start here: 0. Fresh clone? The tasks live in Beads, outside git: run bd bootstrap --yes once to load them from .beads/issues.jsonl (needs bd). Without it bd list is empty. 1. Run relai handoff (current state, next tasks, decisions, pitfalls — a few hundred tokens). relai not installed or not found? Read .relai/notes.md and relai.yaml directly instead — they are plain files, no CLI required. 2. Before building something another project might already provide, check relai find <capability> (or read…
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 31,774 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 repository7 other files it gives its agents.
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- openspec-apply-changeSkill
- openspec-archive-changeSkill
- openspec-exploreSkill
- openspec-proposeSkill
- openspec-sync-specsSkill
- openspec-update-changeSkill
The file
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
8 rules. About 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 6 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.
6
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 6
Run relai handoff (current state, next tasks, decisions, pitfalls — a few hundred tokens).
- Very specific: line 9
Before building something another project might already provide, check relai find <capability> (or read a shared .relai/index.json …
- Distinctive: line 16
Keep this file under 100 lines.
- Very specific: line 20
After creating, updating or closing tasks, run scripts/sync-beads.sh and commit .beads/issues.jsonl: that file is the copy of the task list …
- Very specific: line 22
Every bd run rewrites ~3 MiB of its database on disk: never run it on a timer or in a loop.
- Very specific: line 26
Before committing: gofmt -l .
- Very specific: line 28
Commit messages: conventional style (feat:, fix:, docs:…), no Co-Authored-By or "Generated with" trailers.
- Distinctive: line 32
Keep it easy: every feature must work for one person with only git, no server.
≈ “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
relai — instructions for AI agents
Start here:
0. Fresh clone? The tasks live in Beads, outside git: run bd bootstrap --yes once to load them
from .beads/issues.jsonl (needs bd). Without it bd list is empty.
- Run
relai handoff(current state, next tasks, decisions, pitfalls — a few hundred tokens).relainot installed or not found? Read.relai/notes.mdandrelai.yamldirectly instead — they are plain files, no CLI required. - Before building something another project might already provide, check
relai find <capability>(or read a shared.relai/index.jsondirectly, if your group has one) — don't duplicate what already exists elsewhere. - New to the project? Read
docs/HANDOFF.mdonce. - Load anything else only when you need it.
Rules
- Keep this file under 100 lines.
- End the commit message of finished work with
Closes <task id>:relai tidy(run by the post-merge hook ofrelai init --hooks) closes the task, refreshes.beads/issues.jsonland deletes merged branches. - Record decisions and pitfalls in
.relai/notes.md, not in chat. - After creating, updating or closing tasks, run
scripts/sync-beads.shand commit.beads/issues.jsonl: that file is the copy of the task list other people get when they clone. - Every
bdrun rewrites ~3 MiB of its database on disk: never run it on a timer or in a loop.
This repo
- Go, standard library only unless a dependency is clearly worth it. Single static binary.
- Before committing:
gofmt -l .(must be empty),go vet ./...,go test ./.... - Everything is written in English (code, docs, commits, issues).
- Commit messages: conventional style (
feat:,fix:,docs:…), no Co-Authored-By or "Generated with" trailers. - Design lives in
docs/DESIGN.md; changes go through OpenSpec (openspec/), tasks through Beads (bd ready). - Keep it easy: every feature must work for one person with only git, no server.
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.