portolan-skills
AGENTS.md11 starsChanged 30 days agoApache-2.0View on GitHub
All agents MUST read this document before starting work, with no exceptions, ever. (Claude Code does not read AGENTS.md but imports this file via a one-line CLAUDE.md.) Most of this content is synced downstream from portolan-ops. Put repo-specific instructions in AGENTS.md, never in CLAUDE.md, which the sync overwrites. Agents MUST read the complete contents of norms and policies before starting work, with no exceptions, ever. The portolan-spec repo is the absolute ground truth for the Portolan spec. All other tools…
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 31,542 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 repository13 other files it gives its agents.
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- catalog-graderSkill
- customize-portolan-browserSkill
- enrich-metadataSkill
- git-backed-catalogSkill
- portolan-bootstrapSkill
- portolan-cliSkill
- portolan-migrateSkill
- portolan-thumbnailsSkill
- reading-portolanSkill
- register-catalogSkill
- report-catalog-issueSkill
- sourcecoopSkill
The file
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
3 rules. About 0 are common, 3 are distinctive, and 0 are 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.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 12
Before documenting any command, flag, or API, verify that it exists.
- Distinctive: line 14
Use conventional commits always.
- Distinctive: line 16
All tickets and PRs MUST follow the templates.
≈ “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
<!-- ops-sync:begin — synced from portolan-sdi/portolan-ops. Edit there, not here. -->Portolan agent norms
All agents MUST read this document before starting work, with no exceptions, ever. (Claude Code does not read AGENTS.md but imports this file via a one-line CLAUDE.md.) Most of this content is synced downstream from portolan-ops. Put repo-specific instructions in AGENTS.md, never in CLAUDE.md, which the sync overwrites.
Ground rules
Agents MUST read the complete contents of norms and policies before starting work, with no exceptions, ever.
The portolan-spec repo is the absolute ground truth for the Portolan spec. All other tools are downstream of it.
Before documenting any command, flag, or API, verify that it exists.
Use conventional commits always.
All tickets and PRs MUST follow the templates.
GitHub applies issue forms only in the web UI. With gh issue create, write each form field as a ### <field label> heading, in the form's order. Include ### Priority with one of P0 to P3 from the priority rubric. Pass the form's type label with --label, and pass the body with --body-file. The writing hook denies a body that skips its form, and issue governance flags one.
Org-wide facts
The canonical homepage is https://www.portolan-sdi.org/. Canonical URLs live in copy/urls.md. Do not hardcode variants.
Community discussion happens in the Portolan Google Group and the Portolan channel in Cloud-Native Geo Slack. Planning happens in org-level GitHub projects.
Files between ops-sync markers are synced from portolan-ops. They are overwritten on every sync run. To change one, edit it in portolan-ops.
One canonical home per fact. If a value like a color, URL, or policy line exists in portolan-ops, link to it rather than copying it.
<!-- ops-sync:end -->Skills track pinned upstreams
Every skill states facts about portolan-cli, rashid, the specification, the catalog template, or the registry. pins.toml names the version of each that the skills describe. scripts/check_drift.py checks every portolan, rashid, and gh command in a bash fence, every PORTO-* and PTL-* id, every cited specs/...md path, and every sample body marked <!-- drift-sample: issue --> or <!-- drift-sample: pr --> against those versions. Run it before you file a change:
uv run scripts/check_drift.pyPre-commit runs it with --offline. The Drift workflow runs it on every pull request and once a week. The weekly run fails when a pin lags its upstream and keeps one tracking issue open.
Each SKILL.md has <!-- drift: depends-on: ... --> on line 6. That comment lists the upstreams the skill states facts about. There is no last-verified date. git log pins.toml records when a pin last moved.
A skill restates nothing that portolan <cmd> --help, the spec, or rashid output can answer. Cite a spec rule by its id, such as PORTO-CORE-081. Do not paraphrase the rule. To show a wrong command on purpose, put <!-- drift-skip: <reason> --> on the line before the fence.
To move a pin, edit pins.toml. Then run the checker and fix every finding in the same pull request.
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.