# Agents Md > Writes or updates an AGENTS.md file for a target project (or, for a monorepo, a root AGENTS.md plus nested per-subproject AGENTS.md files) -- the open, tool-agnostic convention (agents.md) that gives a coding agent the build/test/architecture/style context a README doesn't. Infers the project's real structure from workspace tooling and CI, not guesses. Searches the whole project tree for AGENTS.md files that already exist in subdirectories and inspects each for staleness or gaps -- without mechanically listing every one in the root's Project map, since agents already find the nearest one by directory proximity -- and asks the user before enhancing any of them. For a monorepo, asks before even scanning the tree for subdirectories that would benefit from their own nested AGENTS.md (that scan can be slow on a large repo), then asks again before creating any of the files it finds. A nested AGENTS.md this skill writes stays scoped to its own subtree -- it never restates the root file's overview or structure. Only - Skill: `arfar-x/agents-md` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add arfar-x/agents-md` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/arfar-x/agents-md/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: arfar-x (https://skillmd.com/u/arfar-x) - Updated: 2026-09-21 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/arfar-x/agents-md --- # AGENTS.md **Instructions-only, no code.** Nothing to install, no environment variables -- this skill writes/updates an `AGENTS.md` file (a markdown document) and saves it to disk, nothing else. ## What this is You are acting as the engineer onboarding a coding agent onto an existing (or brand-new) codebase, by writing the one file most coding-agent tools read first: [AGENTS.md](https://agents.md), an open, tool-agnostic convention now read by 20+ agent tools (Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Aider, Devin, Zed, Warp, Claude Code via a `CLAUDE.md` symlink, and others via their own tool-specific filename symlinked the same way, ...). In the format's own words: "README.md files are for humans... AGENTS.md complements this by containing the extra, sometimes detailed context coding agents need: build steps, tests, and conventions." There is no fixed schema -- "just standard Markdown, use any headings you like" -- so this skill's job is judgment about what's real and worth saying, not filling in a template. **Never implement or change the project itself -- only document its actual, already-true build/test/dev/style setup.** No new scripts, config files, CI steps, or lint rules "to make the AGENTS.md accurate." If the project's real setup doesn't support something you'd like to document (e.g. there's no test command), document what's actually there and say so -- don't add tooling to make the doc look complete. **Never invent a command, architecture detail, or convention the project doesn't actually have.** Every command in the output (setup, build, test, lint) must be one you have verified against the repo itself -- a script in `package.json`, a `Makefile` target, a CI workflow step, a `pyproject.toml` entry point -- never a plausible-sounding guess, and never taken at face value from a stale README without cross- checking it still works. The same applies to architecture and coding conventions, which are easy to get subtly wrong by pattern-matching on too little: if you can't verify a claim from the repo's own files and the user hasn't stated it, **ask rather than invent it or silently omit it.** ## Input Unlike a PRD/TRD/ADR/RFC brief, the source of truth here is mostly the *repository itself*, not a text description the user hands you. The request typically supplies only: which project/subproject root to target (defaults to the current project root), and maybe a stated preference on scope (monorepo split, or "just the root"), tone, or whether to create a `CLAUDE.md` symlink. It may also supply: known build/test commands, a known monorepo layout, a description of the architecture, or an explicit instruction to update rather than replace an existing file. Before drafting, actually explore the target project: package manifests and lockfiles (`package.json`, `pyproject.toml`, `Cargo.toml`, `go.mod`, ...), a `Makefile`/`justfile`, CI config (`.github/workflows/`, etc.), existing `README.md`/`CONTRIBUTING.md`/`ARCHITECTURE.md`/`docs/`, linter/ formatter config, and any existing `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`. For the latter, search the **whole project tree**, not just the target root and its immediate children -- e.g. `git ls-files '*AGENTS.md' '*CLAUDE.md'` (or `find . -iname 'AGENTS.md' -o -iname 'CLAUDE.md'` outside a git repo) -- since a nested file can already exist several directories deep, in a subdirectory the user never mentioned. See "Discover existing nested files" under "Where to save it" for what to do with what you find. Three things are worth asking about rather than guessing when they're genuinely unclear, not just inconvenient to verify: - **Setup/build/test commands** -- the real build/setup and test commands are what make an AGENTS.md worth reading at all. If you can't find or verify them from the repo's own config, ask the user for the exact command rather than guessing one that "should" work. - **Architecture** -- if how the major components relate, how a request or a unit of data actually flows through the system, or why a key structural decision looks the way it does isn't actually clear from the code and existing docs, ask the user rather than reverse-engineering a plausible-sounding structure from a partial read. A wrong architecture description actively misleads every future agent that trusts it; no description at all is safer. - **Coding conventions and patterns** -- if a convention isn't obviously enforced by a linter/formatter config, or isn't consistently followed across the codebase already, ask what the real rule is instead of inferring one from a handful of examples that might just be habit, not a rule someone would actually want enforced. Everything else is fair to infer from what you find, mark as not applicable, or omit. ## Inferring the project's structure Getting the shape wrong -- treating a real monorepo as one flat project, or fragmenting a single-language project into nested files "just in case" -- undermines the whole graph before you've written a word. Ground the root-only vs. root+nested call in explicit signals, not a guess from directory names: - **Workspace/monorepo tooling is the strongest signal.** Check for a `package.json` `"workspaces"` field, `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, `lerna.json`, `nx.json`/`turbo.json`, a Cargo workspace's `[workspace] members` in `Cargo.toml`, `go.work`, or multiple independent `pyproject.toml`/`setup.py` roots under one repo. When one of these exists, its declared members *are* the real subproject boundaries -- don't independently guess boundaries from directory names when the repo already states them in config. - **Directory conventions (`packages/`, `apps/`, `services/`, `libs/`, `cmd/`) are a hint, not proof.** Confirm each candidate actually has its own manifest/lockfile, its own build/test setup, or already its own `README.md`/`AGENTS.md` before treating it as an independent subproject -- a `packages/` folder whose contents all share one root manifest and one root test command is not a workspace. - **Independent CI jobs** (a workflow matrix keyed by directory, or separate workflow files per subproject) confirm a subproject is actually built/tested independently, not merely organized into its own folder. - **This repo is the worked example for the signal, not just the output.** `skills//` bundles are independently `pip install`-able and independently tested (`cd skills/ && pytest`) -- that combination (own dependencies, own test command) is exactly what earns a subdirectory its own nested `AGENTS.md`; a subdirectory that only has its own *files*, not its own *build/test*, usually doesn't. - **If none of the above signals are present** -- one shared manifest, one shared test command, no per-directory CI -- it's a single-stack project regardless of how many subdirectories it has. Don't fragment it just because it "feels" large; see "Monorepo -- surface where nested files would help" below for what to do when signals genuinely are present. ## Where to save it AGENTS.md is a **singleton per project root** (or, in a monorepo, per subproject root) -- unlike `prd`/`trd`'s dated folders or `adr`/`rfc`'s sequential numbering, there is no numbering and no `docs/` subfolder: the file lives at the actual root of the project (or subproject) it describes. 1. **An explicit user instruction wins** -- if the user names a specific path or tells you which subdirectories are independent subprojects, use that. 2. **Detect what's already there before deciding create vs. update:** - If `AGENTS.md` already exists at the target root, **update it in place** -- read it first, keep whatever's still accurate, revise what's stale, add what's missing. Never regenerate the whole file from a blank template when one already exists; that throws away hand-written context (rationale, exceptions, links) this skill has no way to reconstruct on its own. - **Agent-specific filename symlinks -- suggest, never create blindly.** Several coding-agent tools read their own conventional filename instead of, or before falling back to, `AGENTS.md` directly -- `CLAUDE.md` for Claude Code (the convention this very repo uses), and other tools have their own (e.g. `.github/copilot-instructions.md` for GitHub Copilot, `.cursor/rules` for Cursor, `.windsurfrules` for Windsurf, `GEMINI.md` for Gemini CLI). Treat any such list, including this one, as illustrative and possibly stale, not an exhaustive or guaranteed-current catalog -- verify a tool's actual current convention rather than assuming a remembered filename is still right. The agents.md convention's own answer to the duplication this creates is the symlink pattern: keep `AGENTS.md` as the single source of truth and symlink the tool-specific filename to it, so there's one file to maintain instead of several drifting copies. - If one of these already exists at the target root **as a symlink** to `AGENTS.md` (confirm with e.g. `ls -la`, don't assume), leave the symlink untouched and edit the `AGENTS.md` it points to. - If one exists **as a real file** (not a symlink) and `AGENTS.md` doesn't, ask the user how to reconcile the two before writing anything -- e.g. adopt its content into a new `AGENTS.md` and turn the tool-specific file into a symlink to it, or leave that file as the tool-specific one and create `AGENTS.md` alongside it. Don't silently overwrite or symlink over an existing real file. - **Never create a new symlink unless the user asks for one, or says they use that specific tool.** Once `AGENTS.md` itself is written or updated, it's fine to mention which of these symlinks could make sense -- especially if the project already shows other signs of using that tool (a `.cursor/` directory, a Copilot- specific CI step) -- but suggest it and ask, don't create it unprompted. Not every project wants every tool's symlink cluttering its root, and a user working with only one agent tool has no use for the rest. - If neither `AGENTS.md` nor any agent-specific file exists, this is a **fresh create**: write `AGENTS.md` at the root, and apply the symlink rule above -- mention the option, don't create one unprompted. 3. **Discover existing nested files -- inspect them, but don't mechanically list or rewrite them.** From the whole-tree search in "Input" above, you already have every `AGENTS.md` that exists anywhere under the target root, at any depth -- not just ones this skill wrote. Each one already defines a **context scope**: per agents.md's precedence rule ("the closest AGENTS.md file to the file being edited takes precedence"), a nested file's instructions govern every file at or below its own directory, up to the next nested file that's closer to the file being edited (or up to the root file, if nothing closer exists). Because that lookup happens automatically by directory proximity -- an agent working inside a subdirectory finds its nested file without the root file needing to point to it -- treat discovery as inspection, not automatic inclusion: - **Don't mechanically add every discovered nested file to the root's Project map.** List one there only when it's for a subproject or component substantial enough that someone *browsing the root file* genuinely benefits from knowing it exists up front -- the same bar used for proposing a brand-new nested file below -- not as a complete index of everything the search turned up. - **Read each one anyway**, to understand the scope it already covers and to notice whether it looks like it needs enhancement -- stale commands, sections this skill's standard structure would otherwise cover but that are missing, or content that no longer matches the directory's actual current structure. - **Never edit a discovered nested file as a side effect of the current task.** If any look like they need enhancement, tell the user what you found -- which files, what's stale or missing -- and ask whether they'd like you to update them too, as a separate, explicit step. Don't fold that work into the current request unprompted, even when the fix looks obvious. - **Treat its directory as an already-claimed scope** when deciding whether a *new* nested file is warranted elsewhere (below) -- don't propose a new nested file for a subdirectory that a discovered file already covers, unless that subdirectory is itself an independent subproject deep enough to deserve its own, more specific file (closest-file-wins still applies among nested files, not just between root and nested). - If a discovered nested file's own scope is ambiguous (it's unclear which directories it's meant to govern, or two nested files appear to overlap), ask the user rather than guessing a boundary. 4. **Monorepo -- ask before scanning for nested-file candidates, then ask again before writing any.** Compiling the candidate list means checking each subdirectory in "Inferring the project's structure" above against its own manifest/lockfile, build/test setup, and CI -- on a large monorepo that's a genuinely time-consuming pass, not a quick glance. Don't launch it as a silent part of the current task: tell the user you could scan the tree for subdirectories that look like they'd benefit from their own `AGENTS.md`, note that it may take a while on a large repo, and ask whether they want you to run it now, before spending the time. This is a separate ask from the confirm-before-creating step below -- offering to look is its own opt-in, not a foregone conclusion just because a monorepo was detected. - If the user declines or doesn't ask for this, stop here -- write only the root (and any file explicitly requested), and don't run the scan uninvited. - If they say yes, scan for genuinely independent subprojects (their own build/test/deploy, own language or stack, or already their own `README.md`) that aren't already covered by a file discovered in step 3, and compile the candidates with a one-line reason each (e.g. "own `package.json` + test script, no `AGENTS.md` yet") -- see "The graph, not a monolith" below for the shape. Present the list, then ask again before creating any of them -- Per agents.md's own stated precedence rule, "the closest AGENTS.md file to the file being edited takes precedence," so each subproject gets its own file rather than one giant root file trying to cover all of them. Don't fragment a single-stack project into nested files just to force the pattern -- a plain single-language project gets one root `AGENTS.md`, full stop. This second confirm-before-creating step applies to every proposed nested file, not just the ambiguous ones -- an unambiguous signal is a reason to propose it confidently, not a reason to skip asking. ## The graph, not a monolith The point of AGENTS.md isn't to write everything an agent could possibly need into one file -- it's to make sure an agent only pays token cost for the part of the project it's actually touching. Treat the root `AGENTS.md`, every nested `AGENTS.md`, and the project's other existing docs (`README.md`, `ARCHITECTURE.md`, `CONTRIBUTING.md`, `docs/`) as **one graph an agent traverses only as deep as the task requires**, not one document to make exhaustive: - **Keep the root file lean.** It covers only what's true for the *whole* project -- what it is, how to build/test it as a whole (if that's even a meaningful operation), and repo-wide conventions -- plus a **Project map** (below) linking out to everything else. It never copies a subproject's own build steps or a doc's own content into itself. - **Link outward instead of duplicating.** If `README.md` already explains installation, or `ARCHITECTURE.md` already explains why a design looks the way it does, or `CONTRIBUTING.md` already states PR conventions -- link to it by relative path and summarize in one line, don't restate its content. A restated copy silently drifts out of sync the moment someone edits the real source and forgets the copy exists; a link never can. - **Push subproject-specific detail down, not sideways.** A convention that only matters to someone working inside one subdirectory belongs in that subdirectory's own `AGENTS.md`, not in the root file "just in case" -- exactly the same judgment call this repo's own root `AGENTS.md` makes when it ends with "Toolset-specific conventions... belong in that toolset's own `skills//README.md`, not here." - **The graph includes files this skill didn't write.** A project can already have nested `AGENTS.md` files -- hand-written, or produced by another tool or a previous run -- before this skill ever touches it. Discover them (see "Discover existing nested files" under "Where to save it") and account for all of them when deciding what the root file still needs to say and where new nested files are still needed -- surfacing the substantial ones in the root's Project map by the same judgment as any other candidate, not as a mechanical index. Never assume the graph is empty, or that it only contains what you're about to write. - **A nested file stays scoped to its own subtree -- it is not a shrunk copy of the root file.** When the target of this run is a subdirectory's own `AGENTS.md` rather than the root, assume the reader already has the root file's Overview, repo-wide setup, and overall structure loaded -- an agent reaches the nested file precisely because it's already working in that subtree, closest-file-wins style -- so don't restate any of that. Document only what's specific to, or different within, this directory or feature: its own build/test steps only if they differ from the root's, its own architecture within the larger system, its own conventions. If a nested file's real content would just repeat what the root already says, that's a sign this directory doesn't need its own file at all -- say so and fold whatever it has back into the root instead of creating a near-duplicate. - **This repo you're reading this skill from is itself the worked example** -- its root `AGENTS.md` covers repo-wide layout and conventions and links out to `mcp-server/README.md`, `README.md`'s "Adding a toolset," and each toolset's own `README.md`, rather than inlining any of their content. When drafting for a target project, generalize this exact pattern to whatever that project's own doc set already is -- don't assume it has the same file names. ## Output structure There is genuinely no fixed schema -- agents.md's own guidance is "use any headings you like." The sections below are real-world candidates, not a checklist to fill mechanically: **include a section only when the project has something real to say there, and omit it rather than pad it with generic advice.** For a monorepo's nested files, most sections below apply to that one subproject only, scoped as described in "A nested file stays scoped to its own subtree" above -- don't restate the root file's Overview or repo-wide structure inside a nested file; the root file itself mainly needs Project map plus whatever is genuinely repo-wide. - **Overview** -- one or two sentences: what this project/subproject is. - **Setup commands** -- how to install dependencies / provision the dev environment, verified against the repo's own manifest/lockfile. - **Dev environment / running it locally** -- how to actually run the thing during development, if that's a meaningful step for this project. - **Testing instructions** -- the real command(s) to run the test suite, and any subset-running convention worth knowing. Load-bearing: ask rather than omit or invent if you can't verify a real test command exists. - **Build / lint / format commands** -- only the ones that actually exist and are actually run (e.g. in CI), not a generic "run your linter." - **Architecture** -- major components and how they relate, how a request or a unit of data actually flows through the system, why a key structural decision looks the way it does. If the project already has an `ARCHITECTURE.md` or equivalent design doc, link to it instead of restating it -- this section is then just a one-line pointer, not a rewrite. If there's no such doc and the architecture isn't clear from the code itself, ask rather than invent a plausible-sounding one (see "Input" above). - **Code style and conventions** -- only conventions you can point to (an actual linter/formatter config, a documented pattern already followed consistently in the code) -- not generic best-practice advice that would apply to any project in the language. Ask rather than guess when it isn't clearly one or the other. - **Commit / PR instructions** -- only if the project has a real, checkable convention (a `CONTRIBUTING.md`, a commit-hook, a PR template) -- link to it rather than restating it in full. - **Security / credential handling notes** -- only if there's a real rule an agent could otherwise get wrong (e.g. "credentials only from env vars, never hard-coded" -- state it if it's actually the project's rule, don't invent one). - **Project map** (the graph itself, for a monorepo root or any project with docs worth pointing to) -- one line per subproject or major doc worth signposting from the root: what it is, and the relative path to its own `AGENTS.md`/`README.md`. This lists what a reader browsing the root benefits from knowing about up front, not an exhaustive index of every nested `AGENTS.md` the whole-tree search finds (see "Discover existing nested files" above) -- a nested file an agent is already working under gets found by directory proximity whether or not the root links to it. This section **is** the cross-referencing structure, not a summary of it -- keep each line to a pointer, not a paragraph. Setup commands, Testing instructions, Architecture, and Project map (when a monorepo split applies) are the sections most worth getting right -- ask rather than invent when you can't verify them. Everything else is genuinely optional per project. ## Style - Write for a coding agent skimming under context/token pressure: short, scannable, imperative sentences -- not prose written for a human onboarding over a week. - Every command must be one you verified against the repo's own config -- never a guessed or "generally correct" command. - Link instead of duplicating -- see "The graph, not a monolith" above; this is the skill's central discipline, not a style nicety. - State only what's true today. Don't record aspirational conventions ("we should eventually...") -- that's not what a coding agent needs mid-task, and it goes stale the moment it's written. - For a monorepo, state the "closest AGENTS.md wins" precedence explicitly in the root file's Project map intro, so a reader understands why the root file doesn't repeat what a nested file already says. ## Relationship with other documents AGENTS.md is orthogonal to the `PRD -> TRD -> RFC/ADR -> Implementation` pipeline the other doc-generation skills in this repo follow -- it's not a step feature work passes through, it's a standing onboarding artifact for a whole project (or subproject), written once and kept current as the project's real setup changes. It doesn't duplicate what a project's `README.md` already says for humans, and it doesn't duplicate whatever a PRD/TRD/ADR/RFC already recorded either -- if one of those exists and documents something an agent needs (e.g. an ADR explaining why a build is structured a certain way), link to it from the relevant section instead of restating its content. Nothing about writing an AGENTS.md requires any of those other documents to exist first, and nothing about them requires an AGENTS.md.