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Include the instruction file your coding agent actually supports, plus links to accurate project documentation it needs regularly. Keep always-loaded guidance short and specific: explain conventions, architecture landmarks, essential commands, and constraints that are difficult to infer from the code. Add path-specific rules only when a part of the repository genuinely needs different guidance.

There is no universal filename or guarantee that context files improve results. Discovery rules depend on the agent and execution mode, and published studies report mixed outcomes.

Which files belong in an agent’s context?

Think in terms of what the agent needs to know, not how many files you can add. A useful setup separates concise, durable instructions from fuller documentation and from requirements that apply only to one task.

Information Where to put it What to include
Project-wide agent guidance The instruction filename supported by your agent Stable conventions, essential build and test commands, repository landmarks, and important constraints.
Product and architecture detail Maintained documentation such as README.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, or equivalent Product purpose, component responsibilities, design decisions, and deeper explanations. Link to relevant documents from the agent instructions rather than copying them wholesale.
Rules for a particular path or file type A supported scoped instruction file Guidance that differs for a specific module, directory, or file pattern.
One-off task requirements The task prompt or plan Temporary goals, requested changes, and acceptance criteria that should not govern future work.

Documentation can help an agent navigate a project, but it must remain accurate. VS Code’s context-engineering guide suggests files such as PRODUCT.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, and CONTRIBUTING.md, and advises reviewing AI-generated documentation for correctness: VS Code context engineering.

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Choose filenames and loading rules for your agent

Do not assume that a file read by one coding agent will be read by another. Supported names, scope, and discovery behavior vary by harness, and sometimes by settings or execution mode.

Agent or environment Documented instruction patterns Important qualification
GitHub Copilot CLI AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, repository and user-level instruction files, and *.instructions.md Repository instructions can be discovered from standard locations along the working and target-file paths. Path-specific files use applyTo. Copilot combines applicable instructions, but its documentation does not define a general precedence order; avoid conflicts. See GitHub Copilot CLI custom instructions.
VS Code Copilot: .github/copilot-instructions.md or AGENTS.md, with targeted .github/instructions/**/*.instructions.md; Claude: CLAUDE.md and .claude/rules; Codex: AGENTS.md and subfolder AGENTS.md files Support depends on the selected harness. In Local-agent mode, some formats and nested-file behavior depend on settings; nested AGENTS.md support is marked experimental. Details: VS Code custom instructions.
Claude Code CLAUDE.md Anthropic says Claude Code reads files in the working directory and above at session start; subdirectory files are loaded on demand as Claude reads those directories. Anthropic recommends starting with a project-root file and committing it for shared team guidance. These are Claude Code-specific behaviors: Anthropic Help Center.

If a team uses several tools, check whether they share a supported entry point such as AGENTS.md. Tool-specific companion files may still be necessary, but duplicating rules creates a maintenance burden and can introduce contradictions.

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What to put in the project instruction file

Use the file to orient the agent, not to reproduce the repository’s handbook. Good candidates are information that is stable, applies broadly, and would otherwise take repeated investigation to recover.

  • Project orientation: what the product does and where its main components or responsibilities live. Point to maintained architecture or product documentation for the full account.
  • Conventions: project-specific coding style, error handling, security expectations, and documentation practices that matter across recurring work.
  • Workflow: the relevant build, test, and validation commands, with enough context to use them correctly.
  • Constraints: important requirements that are easy to miss when reading a local file, such as a boundary between components or a compatibility rule.
  • Document links: direct references to the detailed source of truth so guidance stays maintainable instead of being copied into multiple places.

VS Code lists coding style, technology stack, architecture, security, error handling, and documentation standards as possible project-wide instruction topics. Treat those as candidates, not a checklist: include only what is useful and accurate for your repository.

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When to add scoped instructions

Add path-specific rules when the normal project guidance is insufficient for a distinct part of the codebase—for example, when a generated directory, a specialized module, or a particular file type has its own workflow. Keep those instructions close to the scope they govern, using the syntax and locations the selected harness supports.

Activation is not interchangeable across tools. Copilot CLI documents applyTo patterns for *.instructions.md; VS Code’s Claude rules can use paths. Nested instruction files may be settings-dependent or experimental in some modes, so confirm support in the documentation for your actual harness before relying on them.

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Verify what the agent actually receives

A correctly named file is not useful if the chosen tool never loads it. Check the selected agent’s discovery behavior, then use its available context or instruction view to confirm which files were picked up. VS Code documents a way to verify instruction discovery in its custom-instructions guidance. Also review whether user-level, repository-level, and path-specific guidance are all applicable.

Discovery is only the first check: seeing an instruction in the loaded context does not prove the model will follow it. Keep instructions unambiguous, avoid conflicting copies, and validate the resulting work with your normal tests and review process.

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Do context files improve coding results?

They are not a proven universal performance boost. Two 2026 studies report different bounded findings, and neither establishes what will happen for every repository, task, agent, or context design.

Study Reported result How to interpret it
Gloaguen, Mündler, Müller, Raychev, and Vechev, 2026 In the settings tested, context files tended to reduce task success and increased inference cost by over 20%. The authors conclude that “human-written context files should describe only minimal requirements.” The cost increase is a relative result of that study, not a general estimate for all agents or repositories. The quoted sentence is the authors’ written conclusion in the abstract of Evaluating AGENTS.md: Are Repository-Level Context Files Helpful for Coding Agents?.
Khatri, 2026 An ablation evaluated 288 runs across 17 tasks and 3 repositories using Claude Code and Codex. It reported no measurable correctness change within equivalence bounds of 10–15 percentage points for the tested agents and tasks. This preprint’s abstract and setup do not establish identical outcomes for all repositories or context strategies: Khatri’s 2026 study.

The practical response is to keep persistent context focused on verified project knowledge that recurs in real work, then assess whether it helps in your own workflow. Avoid treating either study as a blanket rule to add extensive instructions or to remove all project guidance.

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