design-engineering-playbook / skills
AGENTS.md1 starsChanged 5 months agoMITView on GitHub
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 31,439 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 repository20 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- .github/copilot-instructions.mdCopilot instructions
- kano-model-strategistSkill
- legible-agent-outputSkill
- socratic-dialogueSkill
- value-proposition-canvasSkill
- figjam-storymap-llmSkill
- kano-model-strategistSkill
- legible-agent-outputSkill
- socratic-dialogueSkill
- glyph-fidelitySkill
- line-length-optimizerSkill
- microtypographySkill
- text-typesettingSkill
- type-scale-generatorSkill
- ui-text-overflowSkill
- vertical-spacingSkill
- ui-roi-auditSkill
- ux-content-designSkill
- value-proposition-canvasSkill
The file
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
10 rules. About 1 is common, 7 are distinctive, and 2 are very specific to this project.
≈1
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈7
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
- Very specific: line 3
Follow skills-guideline.md when creating or editing skills.
- Distinctive: line 4
Every skill must have one clear job.
- Distinctive: line 5
Create one folder per skill.
- Very specific: line 6
Every skill folder must contain SKILL.md.
- Distinctive: line 9
Do not create empty optional folders unless the user asks for a full scaffold.
- Distinctive: line 10
Do not copy private workspace content directly.
- Distinctive: line 11
Keep all content public-safe, generic, and reusable.
- Common: line 12
Avoid client-specific, personal, or secret data.
- Distinctive: line 13
Ask before deleting, renaming, or broadening the scope of a skill.
- Distinctive: line 14
Do not edit root README.md without explicit user approval.
≈ “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
Agent Instructions for skills/
- Follow
skills-guideline.mdwhen creating or editing skills. - Every skill must have one clear job.
- Create one folder per skill.
- Every skill folder must contain
SKILL.md. - Optional subfolders:
references/,examples/,scripts/. - Do not add per-skill
README.mdby default. Exception: add one when the skill is in a public GitHub repo and you want humans to discover the skill by browsing the folder directly (without going through the agent runtime). The README is the GitHub-facing landing page; the SKILL.md is the agent-facing working document. Don't duplicate — the README summarizes, the SKILL.md is the full procedure. - Do not create empty optional folders unless the user asks for a full scaffold.
- Do not copy private workspace content directly.
- Keep all content public-safe, generic, and reusable.
- Avoid client-specific, personal, or secret data.
- Ask before deleting, renaming, or broadening the scope of a skill.
- Do not edit root
README.mdwithout explicit user approval.
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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.

