Setup Agent Instructions
Make root-level AGENTS.md the canonical repository instruction file and keep
root-level CLAUDE.md as its import pointer. This skill owns those two files
only; it does not configure issue trackers or other agent-specific files.
Inspect before changing anything
- Find the repository root and read any existing root-level
AGENTS.mdandCLAUDE.mdin full. - Check
git statusso existing work is not mistaken for generated setup. - Summarize what exists and what would change before writing.
Treat hand-written content as intentional. A request to proceed quickly is not permission to discard or silently relocate it.
Choose the safe action
| Existing state | Action |
|---|---|
| Neither file exists | Copy both assets to the repository root verbatim. |
AGENTS.md exists; CLAUDE.md does not |
Preserve AGENTS.md; copy the CLAUDE.md asset. |
CLAUDE.md is already the import pointer |
Preserve it. Create AGENTS.md from its asset only if missing. |
CLAUDE.md contains real guidance |
Show the content, separate shared guidance from genuinely Claude-specific guidance, and ask whether to migrate the shared part or leave both files unchanged. |
| Both files contain real guidance | Show the overlap and propose an explicit merge of shared guidance into AGENTS.md; make no change until the user approves it. |
When a merge is approved, preserve the user's wording and repository-specific
structure. Add only missing material; do not replace an established
AGENTS.md with the generic template.
If AGENTS.md is missing during an approved migration, use its asset as the
starting structure, then place the approved shared guidance under Project knowledge. Remove only empty placeholder headings that the migrated material
supersedes. If any guidance must remain Claude-specific, make no changes until
the user has preserved it somewhere outside these two files or reclassified it
as shared. Never create a partially migrated AGENTS.md that duplicates
guidance left in CLAUDE.md.
Assets
assets/AGENTS.mdis the complete template for a missingAGENTS.md.assets/CLAUDE.mdis the complete import-pointer file.
Read the relevant asset and copy it verbatim. Do not reconstruct either file
from memory when creating it without a migration. An approved migration may
add preserved user content to the AGENTS.md template as described above. The
template deliberately contains no issue-tracker, planning, or delivery
workflow; another skill may add those later.
Finish
Read back the final AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md and inspect their diff. Confirm
that approved guidance was neither omitted nor duplicated. Then report which
files were created, merged, left unchanged, or deliberately left for the user
to decide. Stop after instruction-file setup rather than invoking another setup
or workflow skill.
What NOT to do
- Don't overwrite or delete hand-written instructions without showing them and receiving explicit confirmation.
- Don't copy the same guidance into multiple agent-specific files.
- Don't edit
.cursor/,.cursorrules, or other tool-specific files; they are outside this skill's contract. - Don't create
docs/agents/issue-tracker.mdor add an intent-to-PR workflow. - Don't invent commands, conventions, architecture notes, or project facts for the template's empty sections.
- Don't silently replace an existing
CLAUDE.md, even when the import-pointer pattern would be cleaner.