One search for your own team's files and the public ecosystem. See how real projects write their agent instructions, and bring the good ideas home.
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.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/smoke-tests/SKILL.md
Use when running VS Code smoke tests or working on smoke-test CI steps. Covers pnpm run smoketest / smoketest-no-compile, grep filtering tests, and a temporary repeat-loop technique for tracking down flaky smoke tests in CI.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/sweeper-implement/SKILL.md
Implement a VS Code Sweeper agent-ready issue — fetch the sweeper's review record from its state repo, implement the change in the current vscode checkout from the review's brief (an implement-ready record) or from an approved sweeper-plan file, validate the diff against it, and — after the maintainer has reviewed the changes in their editor — open a draft PR. Use ONLY when the request explicitly asks for the sweeper — "sweeper-implement", "sweeper", "vscodesweeper", a sweeper record, an agent-ready issue, or a sweeper brief — or asks to implement a sweeper plan ("implement plan <n>", a `.sweeper/plans/issue-<n>.md` file). Do NOT use for a plain "fix this issue" request that doesn't mention the sweeper; fix those directly with your normal tools instead.
Steady+17 stars this week
No other project uses it yet
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/sweeper-plan/SKILL.md
Plan a VS Code Sweeper agent-ready issue with the maintainer — fetch the sweeper's review record from its state repo, put the review's open decisions to the maintainer, and write a plan file (.sweeper/plans/issue-<n>.md) for them to edit in their editor; it writes no code and ends there — the sweeper-implement skill implements the approved plan. Use ONLY when the request explicitly asks for the sweeper plan — "sweeper-plan", "plan … with the sweeper", a sweeper record or agent-ready issue to plan first. Do NOT use for a plain planning request that doesn't mention the sweeper.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/sweeper-query/SKILL.md
Answer natural-language questions about the VS Code Sweeper's published issue index (index-<name>.json for microsoft/vscode and the enrolled family repos) — which issues are agent-ready to implement or plan, what the sweeper proposed for an assignee or area, whether the sweeper knows a report as a duplicate, the highest-value open bugs in a lane — and, for one issue, the review's full record (evidence with file citations, fix brief, proposed comment). Use ONLY when the request explicitly names the sweeper — "sweeper", "vscodesweeper", "sweeper-query", a sweeper verdict, record, brief or index, an agent-ready issue — or asks what "the sweeper" found, proposed or knows. Do NOT use for general questions about issues, duplicates, priorities or ranking that do not mention the sweeper. Read-only; discovery only.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/symbolicate-crash-dump/SKILL.md
Symbolicate a native VS Code crash dump (.dmp) using electron-minidump. Use when given a crash dump file, asked to symbolicate a crash, resolve missing method names in a native crash backtrace, or attach Electron/Insiders/Stable symbol files. VS Code team members only; requires macOS or Linux.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/unit-tests/SKILL.md
Use when running unit tests in the VS Code repo. Covers the runTests tool, scripts/test.sh (macOS/Linux) and scripts/test.bat (Windows), and their supported arguments for filtering, globbing, and debugging tests.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/update-instructions/SKILL.md
update-instructions
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/update-screenshots/SKILL.md
Update the committed blocks-ci screenshot hashes after the "Screenshots & Tests" check fails, or investigate a screenshot diff reported on a PR. Use when asked to update, accept, or refresh component screenshot baselines from CI. This skill should be run as a subagent.
Steady+17 stars this week
5 projects use a version of this
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/ux-css-layout/SKILL.md
VS Code CSS conventions, SplitView/Grid layout, semantic sizes, rounded-surface geometry, clipping, scrollable content, and text overflow. Use when writing CSS, building layouts, or fixing corners, panel gaps, or text truncation.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/ux-theming/SKILL.md
VS Code theming, color tokens, composited surfaces, interaction-state precedence, and high-contrast support. Use when styling widgets, changing hover/focus/selection, or validating rendered theme states.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/validate-ui-scenario/SKILL.md
Use when reproducing a UI bug or verifying a fix by driving a real VS Code window end to end and capturing evidence. Writes a scenario file, runs it against a dev build or installed Insiders, and produces a captioned video, per-step screenshots, a Playwright trace, and an HTML report to attach to an issue or pull request.
Steady+17 stars this week
No other project uses it yet
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/.github/skills/vscode-dev-workbench/SKILL.md
Use when the user wants to run the vscode.dev server locally and exercise the VS Code workbench or Agents window in the integrated browser against the local `microsoft/vscode` sources. Covers starting the dev server, the `vscode-quality=dev` URL, browser-driven interaction patterns, and optionally wiring up a local mock agent host for the Agents window.
Steady+17 stars this week
4 projects use a version of this
MicrosoftAGENTS.mdmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/platform/agentHost/AGENTS.md
Before adding or changing protocol constructs or _meta, follow AHP interoperability: use existing protocol constructs first, raise unmet requirements upstream, and preserve compatibility with alternate hosts and UIs. Node runtime service construction is documented separately in node/serviceBootstrapping.md. Host startup timings, process-lifetime correlation, and session workload counts are documented in PERFORMANCE.md. Status: COMPLETE (2026-07-01) All waves A–D and gates G-B1, G-C1, G-C2, G-D1 are done. Codex, Claude, and Copilot all use the unified orchestrator path. Codex advertises multipleChats: { fork: true,…
MicrosoftAGENTS.mdmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/platform/agentHost/common/state/AGENTS.md
This directory contains the VS Code-facing wrappers around the Agent Host Protocol (AHP) state model. Read this before modifying protocol types. Before adding or changing protocol constructs or _meta, follow the protocol constructs before _meta rules. Existing protocol constructs must be used instead of metadata where possible; unmet requirements should be raised upstream, and optional metadata must tolerate alternate hosts and UIs that omit or ignore it. The generated protocol includes the Changesets model: The generated copy intentionally carries the…
MicrosoftAGENTS.mdmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/platform/agentHost/node/copilot/prompts/AGENTS.md
This directory customizes the system prompt for Copilot CLI agent host (ahp+cli) sessions. Read this before changing how the system message is built or adding per-model / per-tool guidance. It mirrors the Copilot extension's extensions/copilot/.../prompts/node/agent/ (agentPrompts), but the agent host runs in its own process and cannot use prompt-tsx, so contributors return plain data the SDK accepts directly. Unless the matching chat.agentHost.copilot.modelCapabilityOverrides entry provides a YAML promptOverrideString or promptOverrideFile containing systemPrompt, resolveSystemMessageConfig(model, context) layers, in order: The per-model prompt override…
Steady+17 stars this week
No other project uses it yet
MicrosoftAGENTS.mdmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/platform/agentHost/test/node/AGENTS.md
For tests in this area that touch the SessionDatabase, they MUST use an in-memory database, not a real database file on disk. Use SessionDatabase.open(':memory:') and see the examples from existing tests.
Steady+17 stars this week
No other project uses it yet
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/sessions/skills/act-on-feedback/SKILL.md
Act on user feedback attached to the current session. Use when the user submits feedback on the session's changes via the Submit Feedback button.
Steady+17 stars this week
2 projects use a version of this
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/sessions/skills/automate/SKILL.md
Propose an automation from a completed task or a new idea, then create it after approval. Use when the user asks to create an automation or wants scheduled local or cloud agent work.
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/sessions/skills/code-review/SKILL.md
Perform a code review of the current session's changes. Use when the user requests a code review via the Run Code Review button in the Changes toolbar.
Often used withclose-specadd-new-modelcompare-screenshots
MicrosoftSkillmicrosoft/vscode/src/vs/sessions/skills/commit/SKILL.md
Commit staged or unstaged changes with an AI-generated commit message that matches the repository's existing commit style. Use when the user asks to 'commit', 'commit changes', 'create a commit', 'save my work', or 'check in code'.
Steady+17 stars this week
188 projects use a version of this
Often used withvalidate-planbranchpull
Plain text files in a repository that tell a coding agent how the project works: commands to run, conventions to follow and things to avoid. CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, cursor rules and skills are the common kinds.
CLAUDE.md is read by Claude Code. AGENTS.md is an open format that Codex, Cursor and other agents read. Many projects keep one and point the other at it.
A folder with a SKILL.md that describes one capability, such as filling PDFs or reviewing code. The agent loads it only when the task calls for it.
Your agents already can, over MCP, limited to the files you're allowed to read. Searching them from this page is coming.
