AGENTS.md examples from real projects

How real projects brief Codex, Cursor and every other agent that reads AGENTS.md.

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petrkindlmannAGENTS.md

qa-skills

petrkindlmann/qa-skills/AGENTS.md

How AI agents should discover, load, and use skills from this repository. On first skill use per session: 1. Check for .agents/qa-project-context.md in the user's project root - If exists: read it and use as context for all subsequent skill interactions. A file whose fields are still the template's placeholders answers nothing; treat it as absent, take context from the project's own contract and configuration, and say so in the report - If not: suggest the user creates one using…

2097mo agoReviewMount

petrkindlmannAGENTS.md

terso-cli

petrkindlmann/terso-cli/AGENTS.md

This is the canonical source. terso emit compiles it into CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, and .github/copilot-instructions.md. Edit this file, not the generated ones. terso-cli is a Node.js CLI published to npm as…

06mo agoReviewMount

CLAUDE.md vs AGENTS.md

About AGENTS.md

What is AGENTS.md?

An open format for instructions to coding agents, read by Codex, Cursor and others. Think of it as a README written for agents.

Where does it go?

At the repository root, with more specific files in subdirectories. Agents read the one closest to the file they're editing.

What should it contain?

Setup and test commands, code style, and the rules a new contributor would need to know.

Does Claude Code read it?

Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md. A one-line CLAUDE.md that points at AGENTS.md covers both.