AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents
by Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation)
One Markdown file that every coding agent reads — replace your .cursorrules sprawl in an afternoon.
Overview
AGENTS.md is an open, deliberately minimal file format that tells coding agents how to work in a repository — the agent-facing counterpart to a README. The site at agents.md publishes the format, a worked example, adoption data and an FAQ, and the specification is stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation rather than by any single vendor, after emerging from parallel efforts at OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, Cursor, Factory and Amp. The format has no required fields and no schema: it is plain Markdown, and agents parse whatever headings you write. The site's recommended sections are project overview, build and test commands, code style guidelines, testing instructions, security considerations, commit message format, pull-request rules and deployment steps; the published example shows a pnpm and Turbo monorepo with Vitest commands an agent can execute unattended. Resolution is hierarchical — the AGENTS.md nearest the file being edited takes precedence — so monorepos can place a root file alongside per-package overrides. Tool support is broad and enumerated on the page: OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, GitHub Copilot coding agent, Aider, goose, opencode, Factory, Devin, Amp, RooCode, Cursor, VS Code, Zed, JetBrains Junie, Warp, Windsurf, Augment Code and Gemini CLI among others. More than 60,000 open-source repositories have adopted the format, and the reference repository carries 23.7k GitHub stars under an MIT licence with an active issue and pull-request queue.
At a Glance
- Topic
- Agentic
- Level
- All Levels
- Format
- Documentation
- Cost
- Free
- Duration
- ~15 min read, plus ~1 hour to write and test your first file
- Provider
- Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation)
- Hands-on
- Yes — code/exercises
- Certificate
- None
What You’ll Learn
- ✓Write an agent-facing repository file that supplements rather than replaces your README
- ✓Structure the eight recommended sections: overview, build, test, style, security, commits, PRs, deployment
- ✓Give agents exact build and test commands they can execute unattended without guessing
- ✓Use hierarchical resolution so monorepo packages override a root AGENTS.md correctly
- ✓Replace vendor-specific instruction files such as .cursorrules with one portable format
- ✓Identify which of the twenty-plus agents, CLIs and IDEs read the file today
- ✓Encode security constraints and pull-request conventions an autonomous agent must respect
Highlights
- •Vendor-neutral: stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, not by one lab
- •23.7k GitHub stars and 60,000+ repositories already ship one, so agents actively look for it
- •No schema and no required fields — plain Markdown, so adoption costs exactly one file
- •Read by 20+ tools including Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Zed, Jules, Aider, goose and Devin
- •Short enough to read end to end in a coffee break, which almost no other standard manages
Who It’s For
Best For
- ✓Teams standardising instructions across several different coding agents at once
- ✓Maintainers of open-source repos that outside contributors drive with AI tools
- ✓Platform engineers replacing per-tool instruction-file sprawl with a single source
Prerequisites
- •Working knowledge of Markdown and your own repository's build and test commands
- •Hands-on experience with at least one coding agent such as Codex, Copilot or Cursor
- •Nothing further — there is no API, schema or SDK to learn
FAQ
What is AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents?
AGENTS.md is the open, vendor-neutral format for telling coding agents how to work in your repository — build commands, test commands, code style, security constraints and PR rules — in plain Markdown with no schema to learn. It is for any team whose repo is touched by more than one coding agent, and after reading it you can replace a pile of tool-specific instruction files with a single file that Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Zed, Jules, Aider and twenty other tools already read.
Is AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents free?
AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents is free to access.
What level is AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents for?
AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents is aimed at a all levels audience. Recommended background: Working knowledge of Markdown and your own repository's build and test commands, Hands-on experience with at least one coding agent such as Codex, Copilot or Cursor, Nothing further — there is no API, schema or SDK to learn.
How long does AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents take?
Expect roughly ~15 min read, plus ~1 hour to write and test your first file. Most learners work through it at their own pace.
What will I learn from AGENTS.md — Open Format for Guiding Coding Agents?
You'll learn: Write an agent-facing repository file that supplements rather than replaces your README; Structure the eight recommended sections: overview, build, test, style, security, commits, PRs, deployment; Give agents exact build and test commands they can execute unattended without guessing; Use hierarchical resolution so monorepo packages override a root AGENTS.md correctly; Replace vendor-specific instruction files such as .cursorrules with one portable format; Identify which of the twenty-plus agents, CLIs and IDEs read the file today; Encode security constraints and pull-request conventions an autonomous agent must respect.
Topics
Sources
This page was written from 3 sources, 2 on domains other than agents.md.