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Feature Request: Support AGENTS.md

Feature Request: Support AGENTS.md. · Issue #6235 · anthropics/claude-code

github.com

August 19, 2026

1 min read

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51/100

Summary

A GitHub feature request asks Anthropic’s Claude Code to support AGENTS.md, a proposed unified Markdown file for coding agents to use when understanding a codebase. The request cites Codex, Amp, Cursor, and other tools as beginning to standardize around AGENTS.md, which is documented at agents.md. The request argues that Claude Code’s existing CLAUDE.md convention is too specific to Claude Code and is less suitable for repositories shared with developers who use other coding-agent tools. Supporting AGENTS.md could let Claude Code use the same repository guidance file as other agents.

What the discussion said

The thread spent far less time on the mechanics of reading one Markdown filename than on what the refusal symbolizes. Several commenters see AGENTS.md support as a basic interoperability feature: teams increasingly share agent instructions across Codex, Claude Code, and open-source harnesses, and a tool that insists on its own filename forces duplicate configuration, special skills, and extra maintenance. For them, this is especially irritating because Anthropic participates in defining other AI-tool interfaces while appearing reluctant to adopt a community convention it did not originate. Others argued that the practical burden is small. A symlink or tiny CLAUDE.md shim can point Claude Code at AGENTS.md, and agents can be explicitly told to read the file. Some also cautioned against reading corporate-lock-in intent into what may simply be a hardcoded historical default. Still, workarounds do not satisfy everyone: they may miss Claude Code features such as nested-file loading, and users report that Claude sometimes disregards even the instructions it does load. Commenters broadly agreed that well-written repository guidance helps subagents move quickly and avoid project-specific traps, while bloated or poor guidance can actively degrade results. A side current mocked the scale of the dispute, arguing that AI-enabled developers are expending remarkable energy on a trivial filename convention.

Where opinion split

The central fight is whether refusing native AGENTS.md support is harmless configuration friction or deliberate ecosystem capture. Defenders say a symlink or instruction shim solves an otherwise tiny problem, and the filename may merely reflect an old implementation choice. Critics say first-class support matters because agent configuration includes more than one file, nested instruction discovery changes behavior, and proprietary conventions create needless switching costs across AI coding tools.

Read original article

Community Sentiment

Negative

Positives

  • A compact AGENTS.md can give every subagent the same project-specific guardrails, cutting context-gathering time and preventing predictable repository mistakes.
  • A symlink or one-line compatibility file lets teams keep a shared instruction source while continuing to use Claude Code with little immediate disruption.
  • Repository guidance is useful when it stays lean and concrete; it becomes an efficient way to carry conventions across coding agents and human collaborators.

Concerns

  • Claude Code reportedly ignores loaded instructions often enough that filename shims cannot guarantee basics such as consistent pull-request naming and descriptions.
  • Requiring CLAUDE.md alongside AGENTS.md fragments agent configuration, adding duplicated rules, commands, and skills for teams that use multiple AI coding harnesses.
  • The lack of native support looks to critics like vendor lock-in disguised as a filename choice, especially when competing tools already recognize common instruction-file conventions.
  • Poor or overgrown agent instruction files can make subagents worse, injecting distracting context rather than helping them navigate the codebase.