# AGENTS.md

> Give coding agents the durable project map, commands, conventions, boundaries, and verification steps they need before changing the repository. Keep instructions concrete, scoped, and close to the files they govern.

**Decision rule:** Put stable repository-wide operating guidance in AGENTS.md. Move task-specific procedures into Skills and feature-specific intent into specifications, plans, or task records.

## How to use this template

- Replace every angle-bracket placeholder with project-specific evidence.
- Remove sections that do not apply instead of leaving ambiguous boilerplate.
- Link decisions to their specifications, tasks, tests, traces, and owners.
- Re-review this file when the workflow, authority boundary, or primary source changes.

## Project map

> Orient an agent without forcing it to rediscover the repository or infer ownership.

- **Purpose:** <Describe the product and the outcome this repository owns>
- **Important paths:** <List the directories, packages, generated files, and ownership boundaries that matter>
- **Instruction scope:** <Explain whether nested AGENTS.md files override guidance for subprojects>

## Commands and environment

> Provide exact, non-interactive commands and identify prerequisites that cannot be inferred safely.

- **Install:** <Give the dependency installation command and required runtime versions>
- **Develop:** <Give the local development command and expected URL or process>
- **Verify:** <List focused tests, full tests, type checks, linting, and build commands>

## Conventions and change policy

> State the rules that meaningfully affect implementation and review.

- **Code conventions:** <Name architecture, style, naming, and dependency rules with examples where useful>
- **Generated or protected files:** <Identify files agents must not hand-edit or overwrite>
- **Change boundaries:** <Describe acceptable scope, compatibility expectations, migrations, and documentation updates>

## Safety and completion

> Make consequential actions and the definition of done explicit.

- **Approval required:** <List external writes, deployments, secrets, destructive changes, or costs that require approval>
- **Security:** <State data-handling, authorization, dependency, and secret-management requirements>
- **Done:** <Define the evidence an agent must return before claiming the task is complete>

## Related AgentAtlas field guides

- [Agents](https://agentatlas.dev/topics/agents)
- [Specifications](https://agentatlas.dev/topics/specifications)
- [Safety and permissions](https://agentatlas.dev/topics/safety-permissions)

## Primary references

- [Building effective agents](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents) — The distinction between fixed workflows and model-directed agents, plus the recommendation to add complexity only when measured outcomes justify it.
- [Running agents](https://openai.github.io/openai-agents-python/running_agents/) — Agent run loops, state management, continuation strategies, and the operational boundary between the SDK and application-owned state.
- [GitHub Spec Kit](https://github.github.com/spec-kit/index.html) — The specification-driven workflow from intent through specification, plan, tasks, implementation, and quality checks.
- [AGENTS.md specification](https://agents.md/) — Portable repository-level instructions that keep implementation constraints and verification commands available to coding agents.
- [Codex security](https://developers.openai.com/codex/security) — Sandboxing, approvals, network access, filesystem controls, and security boundaries for agentic coding work.
- [Configure permissions](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/permissions) — Permission rules, allow and deny controls, managed policy, tool authorization, and least-privilege configuration.

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- Template version: 1.0.0
- Reviewed: 2026-07-26

Generated deterministically from reviewed AgentAtlas records.