How to write an AGENTS.md file

AGENTS.md files provide coding agents with concise, verified repository instructions that emphasize executable commands, task boundaries, validation requirements, and safeguards against costly mistakes. Effective guidance begins at the repository root with tested install, test, type-check, lint, build, and application-start commands, while distinguishing quick focused checks from broader CI requirements and documenting necessary local dependencies without exposing credentials. The file should define clear, reviewable constraints around shared interfaces, generated code, deployment settings, production data, and scope, while linking to longer maintained documentation rather than duplicating architecture details. In monorepos, nested AGENTS.md files should be added only where packages have genuinely different tools or workflows, and teams should confirm how each coding tool discovers and prioritizes instructions. New guidance should be tested through a small, low-risk change, with reviewers checking that the agent identified applicable instructions, stayed within scope, ran the correct commands, and accurately reported results. AGENTS.md complements rather than replaces technical controls such as permissions, branch protection, security policies, and enforceable linters or tests, and it should be updated alongside changes to scripts, architecture, or generation processes.

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