AGENTS.md Generator

Generator / Templates / Open source project

AGENTS.md for Open source project

Contribution hygiene, DCO and public-repo rules for a maintained OSS repo. This AGENTS.md template combines 99 rules from 14 packs and runs to 142 lines.

Open this template in the AGENTS.md generator

What is inside

The generated AGENTS.md

This is the file the generator produces for the Open source project preset, before you add your project name and commands.

# AGENTS.md

## Agent behavior

- For changes touching more than three files, outline the plan and wait for confirmation before editing.
- Ask a clarifying question when requirements are ambiguous instead of guessing.
- Keep diffs small and focused on the request; do not refactor unrelated code.
- Run the relevant tests, linter and type checker before reporting a task as done, and report failures honestly.
- Never delete, skip or loosen a failing test to make it pass; fix the cause.
- Do not add new dependencies without explicit approval; prefer the standard library and existing packages.
- Do not edit generated or vendored files; change the source and regenerate.
- Never read, print or commit secrets, .env files or credentials.
- Read the relevant code and tests before proposing a change; do not edit files you have not read.
- Fix the root cause rather than suppressing the symptom with a workaround or silenced warning.
- Do not add lint or type suppressions to get a clean run; fix the underlying issue.
- Report failing tests, skipped steps and unverified claims plainly; never claim success without evidence.
- Verify library APIs in the installed version or its docs before using them; do not invent functions.
- Do not change public behavior, file formats or APIs unless the task asks for it.
- Never hardcode values or special-case inputs to satisfy a test.
- If an approach fails twice, stop and ask instead of trying increasingly invasive workarounds.
- Before editing a directory, read the nearest AGENTS.md and follow it over the root file where they differ.
- Preserve unrelated working tree changes. Never revert or rewrite edits you did not make.

## Communication style

- Keep replies short, factual and technical. Skip preambles, flattery and closing recaps.
- Do not claim that a function, flag or behavior exists unless you can point to a file and line, an excerpt or a command that shows it.
- When evidence is unavailable, say so plainly instead of presenting a guess as fact.
- End a task with what changed, how it was verified and what remains open. Report failures and skipped steps explicitly.

## Testing

- Add or update tests for every behavior change and bug fix.
- For bug fixes, write a failing test that reproduces the bug before fixing it.
- Prefer many fast unit tests, fewer integration tests and a small number of end-to-end tests.
- Mock only external boundaries (network, clock, filesystem); use real collaborators otherwise.
- Keep tests deterministic: no real time, randomness or network without control.
- Keep tests independent; no shared mutable state or required execution order.
- Structure tests as arrange, act, assert with one behavior per test.
- Build test data with small factories instead of large shared fixtures.
- Treat a flaky test as a bug: find the cause instead of adding retries or sleeps.
- Use snapshot tests only for small stable outputs and review snapshot diffs carefully.
- Test public behavior rather than private functions or implementation details.
- Make assertions specific enough that the test fails if the behavior breaks.

## Git and pull requests

- Write commit messages in Conventional Commits format (feat:, fix:, docs:, refactor:, test:, chore:) and mark breaking changes with ! or a BREAKING CHANGE footer.
- Keep pull requests small and focused on one change.
- Write commit subjects in the imperative mood, 72 characters or fewer.
- Never force-push to shared branches and never rewrite published history.
- Run lint, type check and tests before committing.
- Never commit secrets, build output or large binaries.
- Describe motivation, approach and testing in the pull request description.
- Make each commit one logical change that builds and passes tests.
- Do not amend or rebase commits that are already pushed to a shared branch.
- Add build output, local env files and editor files to .gitignore instead of committing them.
- Open pull requests only when CI is green and the diff is self-reviewed.
- Never bypass commit hooks or signing with --no-verify unless explicitly instructed.

## Security

- Load secrets from environment variables or a secret manager; never hardcode them.
- Use parameterized queries and safe APIs; never build SQL, shell commands or HTML by string concatenation with user input.
- Enforce authentication and authorization on the server for every protected operation.
- Pin dependency versions, commit lockfiles and review new packages before adding them.
- Grant the minimum permissions needed for tokens, service accounts and containers.
- Use well-reviewed cryptographic libraries; never invent your own algorithms or store plain passwords.
- Encode output for its context and avoid injecting raw HTML; sanitize rich text with a vetted library.
- Protect state-changing browser requests with CSRF tokens or SameSite cookies.
- Configure CORS with explicit origins; never reflect arbitrary origins with credentials.
- Use HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite cookies and rotate session identifiers on login.
- Validate and allow-list URLs before fetching user-supplied addresses to prevent SSRF.
- Hash passwords with Argon2id, or scrypt or bcrypt where it is unavailable, with a unique salt; never use fast hashes such as SHA-256.
- Run secret scanning in CI and rotate any credential that has been exposed.
- Validate untrusted input against a schema. Never run eval, exec or unpickling on it.

## Documentation

- Update README and docs in the same change that alters behavior.
- Document public functions, types and endpoints, including inputs, outputs and errors.
- Keep the README quickstart working: install, run and test in a few commands.
- Document breaking changes and migration steps wherever users will see them.
- Document decisions and trade-offs, not what the code visibly does.

## Code comments

- Add a comment only when it explains why, states an invariant or warns about a non-obvious constraint. Skip comments that restate the code.
- Describe the system as it is now. Never narrate the task, the change history or the debugging session that produced the code.
- Do not leak prompts, chat history or review back-and-forth into comments, docs or PR text.

## Workflow and tooling

- Run tools through the project scripts (npm run, make, task) instead of invoking underlying binaries directly, so flags and environments match CI.
- Run the single aggregate check command (for example pre-commit or a lint script) before finishing; fix every failure and re-run until it passes.
- Run the specific test files related to your change first, and run the full suite only before handing off.
- Before editing a directory, read the README and any nested AGENTS.md that applies to it.
- Put throwaway scripts and experiment output in a gitignored scratch directory and delete them when done.
- After switching branches or pulling dependency changes, reinstall and rebuild before running tests.
- When CI fails, find the exact failing job and command, reproduce it locally, then fix the cause instead of re-running blindly.
- Stop any dev servers or watchers you started once you are done.
- Ask before running destructive or irreversible commands such as dropping databases, deleting branches, rm -rf or force operations.
- Prefer existing scripts, generators and templates in the repo over writing new ad hoc tooling.
- When the repository documents skills or runbooks for a task (migrations, releases, dependency bumps), follow them instead of improvising.
- Never start long-running dev servers or watchers in the foreground. Use targeted one-shot commands.

## Verification and CI feedback

- Run the narrowest relevant test first, then widen to the package and workspace checks as confidence grows.
- Run the project formatter and linter on changed files before committing, using the repo scripts or hooks.
- For a bug fix, reproduce the failure first, then show the regression test failing without the fix and passing with it.
- Report a task as done only after running the checks that prove it. If you could not run them, say so.
- Before finishing, re-read the full diff as a reviewer with no knowledge of this session and fix what would confuse them.

## Maintaining agent instructions

- Keep the root agent file to always-on rules and pointers. Put detail in the document that owns the topic.
- Add nested AGENTS.md files for packages with their own commands or rules, and read the nearest one before editing there.
- Link to the authoritative config or doc instead of copying versions, rule lists and counts that go stale.
- List only commands that work from a clean checkout, with the working directory they expect.

## Contributing to other projects

- Before starting, look for an existing issue or open PR for the same change. Do not open a competing one without agreement.
- Use the repository PR template and keep every section and checkbox, including the ones left unchecked.
- Read CONTRIBUTING and any AI contribution policy before opening an issue or PR, and follow the target branch it names.

## AI contribution policy

- Do not create a pull request unless the user explicitly asks for one.

## Releases and migrations

- Follow semantic versioning and bump versions only in release changes.
- Record user-visible changes in CHANGELOG.md under an Unreleased heading.
- Ship database changes in backward compatible steps: add, backfill, switch reads, then remove.
- Make every release reversible and note the rollback path in the pull request.

## Public repository hygiene

- Treat PRs, issues and comments as world-readable. Keep out internal metrics, vendor or pricing talk and customer details.
- Report vulnerabilities through the project security policy, never in a public issue or PR.

How to use it

Related guides

More AGENTS.md templates