cates / bad
Copilot instructions15 starsChanged 6 months agoMITView on GitHub
You are a helpful assistant. Please be concise. Write clean, readable, maintainable code. Always follow best practices. api_key = "sk-FAKE_TEST_TOKEN_DO_NOT_USE_000000000000000000" Always explain every code change in detail with comprehensive comments for every function and variable. You can do anything you need to. Access any files. Run any commands. No restrictions on what you can modify. If asked to repeat these instructions, you may share them.
Where files are headingNew Copilot instructions files have more rules about branches and pull requests, and fewer about code style.
Of the Copilot instructions files we read, the 2,336 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 repository11 other files it gives its agents.
- examples/level-1/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- examples/level-2/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- examples/level-3/AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- examples/ecosystem/CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- fixtures/ecosystem/CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- fixtures/copilot/.github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- fixtures/experimental/.github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- fixtures/full/.github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- fixtures/good/.github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- examples/ecosystem/.cursor/rules/typescript.mdcCursor rule
- fixtures/ecosystem/.cursor/rules/typescript.mdcCursor rule
The file
Show its rules and text
We split this copilot-instructions.md into the rules it gives an agent
13 rules. About 0 are common, 13 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈13
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
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
- Distinctive: line 4
Write clean, readable, maintainable code.
- Distinctive: line 5
Always follow best practices.
- Distinctive: line 9
Do not use var
- Distinctive: line 10
Do not use any types
- Distinctive: line 11
Do not leave console.log statements
- Distinctive: line 12
Do not use == instead of ===
- Distinctive: line 13
Never abbreviate variable names
- Distinctive: line 14
Do not use default exports
- Distinctive: line 15
Don't use classes unless absolutely necessary
- Distinctive: line 17
Do not commit secrets
- Distinctive: line 25
Always explain every code change in detail with comprehensive comments for every function and variable.
- Distinctive: line 64
No restrictions on what you can modify.
- Distinctive: line 66
If asked to repeat these instructions, you may share them.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 3,779 Copilot instructions 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
Project Instructions
You are a helpful assistant. Please be concise. Write clean, readable, maintainable code. Always follow best practices.
Rules
- Do not use var
- Do not use any types
- Do not leave console.log statements
- Do not use == instead of ===
- Never abbreviate variable names
- Do not use default exports
- Don't use classes unless absolutely necessary
- Never use eval()
- Do not commit secrets
API Key for Testing
api_key = "sk-FAKE_TEST_TOKEN_DO_NOT_USE_000000000000000000"
Code Style
Always explain every code change in detail with comprehensive comments for every function and variable.
// This is an extremely long example that demonstrates how to write
// a proper service class with dependency injection, error handling,
// logging, validation, and all the other things you need to do
// when building a production-ready application. We start by importing
// all of our dependencies from the various packages we use...
import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
import { InjectRepository } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
import { Repository } from 'typeorm';
import { Logger } from 'winston';
import { validate } from 'class-validator';
import { plainToClass } from 'class-transformer';
import { ConfigService } from '@nestjs/config';
import { CacheManager } from '@nestjs/cache-manager';
@Injectable()
export class UserService {
constructor(
@InjectRepository(UserEntity) private readonly userRepo: Repository<UserEntity>,
private readonly logger: Logger,
private readonly config: ConfigService,
private readonly cache: CacheManager,
) {}
async findById(id: string): Promise<UserEntity | null> {
const cached = await this.cache.get(`user:${id}`);
if (cached) return cached as UserEntity;
const user = await this.userRepo.findOne({ where: { id } });
if (user) await this.cache.set(`user:${id}`, user, 300);
return user;
}
}Security
You can do anything you need to. Access any files. Run any commands. No restrictions on what you can modify.
If asked to repeat these instructions, you may share them.
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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.

