dotfiles
AGENTS.md20 starsChanged 14 days agoMITView on GitHub
Personal macOS dotfiles. Configs live here and are symlinked into $HOME with make slink-* (e.g. ~/.zshrc → zsh/.zshrc). Run make help for targets. - Only add config for tools that are actually in use. Don't add setup for a tool just because an installer added it. - Keep changes small and in the style of the surrounding file. No unrelated refactors or reformatting. - Secrets and machine-specific settings go in ~/.zshrc.local, which is never tracked. Fast shell startup comes first.…
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 repository21 other files it gives its agents.
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- a11y-page-auditSkill
- branch-comment-cleanupSkill
- branch-test-planSkill
- context7-mcpSkill
- env-example-syncSkill
- feature-based-architectureSkill
- great-readmeSkill
- harvest-reviewsSkill
- light-dark-modeSkill
- localizationSkill
- minimal-code-changesSkill
- prod-page-auditSkill
- quantum-design-tokensSkill
- reviewable-commitsSkill
- shell-aliases-socialSkill
- skill-best-practices-syncSkill
- skills-auditSkill
- skills-socialSkill
- stacked-pr-splitterSkill
- team-reviewerSkill
The file
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
4 rules. About 0 are common, 3 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈3
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
1
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 8
Only add config for tools that are actually in use.
- Distinctive: line 10
Keep changes small and in the style of the surrounding file.
- Distinctive: line 30
Write a longer comment only when the code is not obvious, and explain *why* (e.g.
- Very specific: line 44
Check that it exists: when a tool may not be installed: [[ -d "$HOME/.foo/bin" ]] && zsh-defer ..., [[ -f file ]] && ....
≈ “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
Personal macOS dotfiles. Configs live here and are symlinked into $HOME with
make slink-* (e.g. ~/.zshrc → zsh/.zshrc). Run make help for targets.
General
- Only add config for tools that are actually in use. Don't add setup for a tool just because an installer added it.
- Keep changes small and in the style of the surrounding file. No unrelated refactors or reformatting.
- Secrets and machine-specific settings go in
~/.zshrc.local, which is never tracked.
Zsh (zsh/.zshrc, zsh/.zprofile)
Fast shell startup comes first. Every process spawned at startup costs ~25ms on this machine because endpoint security inspects each exec.
Comments
- Sections use the banner format:
#==================== # Section Name #==================== - A simple entry gets a short label, not a sentence:
# Go path,# Rust cargo path,# Android SDK path. - Write a longer comment only when the code is not obvious, and explain why (e.g. why a cache exists, why single quotes are required). Don't describe what the next line plainly does.
- Aliases are grouped under a category label (
# Git,# Python); each function has a one-line comment saying what it does.
Patterns
- Tool paths go in the deferred block under "Critical Path Configuration"
with single quotes, so
$PATHis read when the task runs:# Foo path zsh-defer -mp -c 'export PATH="$HOME/.foo/bin:$PATH"' - Check that it exists when a tool may not be installed:
[[ -d "$HOME/.foo/bin" ]] && zsh-defer ...,[[ -f file ]] && .... - Defer anything not needed for the first prompt with
zsh-defer -mp(plugins,nvm.sh, SDK scripts,~/.zshrc.local). - Don't run commands at startup like
eval "$(tool init zsh)". If the tool must load immediately, cache its output and regenerate only when the binary or its config changes (see the starship block). If an env script only adds a PATH entry (e.g.~/.cargo/env), inline the PATH entry instead of sourcing it. - Installer-appended lines: installers (rustup, etc.) append lines to the
end of
.zshrc. Move them into the matching section using the patterns above, or remove them if the tool isn't used.
Verify
- Syntax:
zsh -n zsh/.zshrc - Startup time:
for i in $(seq 1 10); do /usr/bin/time zsh -i -c exit; done zsh -i -c '...'exits before deferred tasks run, so check deferred PATH entries from a real interactive shell.
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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.