---
title: "AGENTS.md root instructions"
canonical: "https://canmyagentuse.com/features/agents-md"
contentKind: "feature"
locale: "en"
description: "Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope. This is tracked as an independent compatibility claim."
llmSummary: "AGENTS.md root instructions is atomic and does not follow automatically from broader instructions support."
publishedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
updatedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
verifiedAt: "2026-08-28"
tags: ["interfaces","instructions"]
---

# AGENTS.md root instructions

AGENTS.md root instructions is atomic and does not follow automatically from broader instructions support.

- HTML: https://canmyagentuse.com/features/agents-md
- JSON: https://canmyagentuse.com/api/v1/features/agents-md.json
- Markdown: https://canmyagentuse.com/features/agents-md.md

Terminology basis: **AGENTS.md convention** — https://agents.md.

## Current support at a glance

AGENTS.md root instructions: 7 supported, 1 partial, 0 unsupported, 23 unreviewed across 31 cataloged products.

- Reviewed current products: 8 of 31
- Supported: 7
- Partial: 1
- Unsupported: 0
- Unreviewed: 23
- Not applicable: 0

Unknown or unreviewed means insufficient published evidence; it does not mean unsupported.

Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope.

Support is recorded only when exact, dated evidence covers this behavior.

## Catalog context

- Category: [interfaces](/categories/interfaces.md)
- Specification: [agents-md](/specs/agents-md.md) — revision living
- Aliases: AGENTS.md
- Family: [Persistent instructions](/features/instructions.md)
- Siblings: [Custom instructions](/features/custom-instructions.md), [Nested AGENTS.md instructions](/features/nested-agents-md.md), [Project rules](/features/native-rules.md)

## Compatibility assertions

Unknown means insufficient published evidence; it does not mean unsupported.

### ChatGPT (web)

- Harness: [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude (web)

- Harness: [Claude](/harnesses/claude-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Gemini (web)

- Harness: [Gemini](/harnesses/gemini-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Copilot (web)

- Harness: [Copilot](/harnesses/copilot-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Grok (web)

- Harness: [Grok](/harnesses/grok-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Grok Bot (desktop)

- Harness: [Grok Bot](/harnesses/grok-bot-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Perplexity (web)

- Harness: [Perplexity](/harnesses/perplexity-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Le Chat (web)

- Harness: [Le Chat](/harnesses/le-chat.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Devin (web)

- Harness: [Devin](/harnesses/devin-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Replit Agent (web)

- Harness: [Replit Agent](/harnesses/replit-agent.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### ChatGPT (desktop)

- Harness: [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude (desktop)

- Harness: [Claude](/harnesses/claude-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Cursor (desktop)

- Harness: [Cursor](/harnesses/cursor.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Cursor Rules documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Constraint (host-role): claim is scoped to Cursor Agent in the desktop workbench
  - Evidence: [Cursor — Rules](https://prod.cursor.com/docs/rules) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 2: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cursor documents AGENTS.md in the project root as an automatically applied plain-Markdown alternative to Cursor Rules.
- preview: **Unknown**

### OpenWork Desktop (desktop)

- Harness: [OpenWork Desktop](/harnesses/openwork-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Copilot Chat (desktop)

- Harness: [Copilot Chat](/harnesses/vscode-copilot.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current VS Code custom-instructions documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [Microsoft — Use custom instructions in VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agent-customization/custom-instructions) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 3: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Microsoft documents automatic AGENTS.md detection at the VS Code workspace root.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Chrome WebMCP origin trial (desktop)

- Harness: [Chrome WebMCP origin trial](/harnesses/chrome-webmcp-preview.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Windsurf (desktop)

- Harness: [Windsurf](/harnesses/windsurf.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Windsurf Rules documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [Windsurf — Memories and Rules](https://docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/memories) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 7: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Windsurf documents root AGENTS.md files as always-on workspace rules.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Zed Agent (desktop)

- Harness: [Zed Agent](/harnesses/zed-agent.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Zed Agent instructions documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Constraint (host-role): claim is scoped to Zed Agent rather than external agents or terminal threads
  - Constraint (runtime): Zed uses the first matching project instruction filename in its documented priority list, so a higher-priority compatible rules file can supersede AGENTS.md
  - Evidence: [Zed — Agent instructions](https://zed.dev/docs/ai/instructions) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 8: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Zed documents project AGENTS.md as an automatically loaded project instruction file.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Continue (desktop)

- Harness: [Continue](/harnesses/continue.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Cline (desktop)

- Harness: [Cline](/harnesses/cline.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Cline Rules documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Constraint (host-role): claim is scoped to the Cline editor agent and workspace-root AGENTS.md discovery
  - Evidence: [Cline — Rules](https://docs.cline.bot/customization/cline-rules) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 6: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cline documents AGENTS.md as a detected cross-tool rule format at the workspace root.
- preview: **Unknown**

### JetBrains AI (desktop)

- Harness: [JetBrains AI](/harnesses/jetbrains-ai.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Warp (desktop)

- Harness: [Warp](/harnesses/warp.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Claude CLI](/harnesses/claude-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### ChatGPT CLI (cli)

- Harness: [ChatGPT CLI](/harnesses/chatgpt-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Codex CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Codex CLI](/harnesses/codex-cli.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Codex AGENTS.md documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [OpenAI — Custom instructions with AGENTS.md](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/agents-md) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 1: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: OpenAI documents automatic AGENTS.md discovery from the project root for Codex.
- preview: **Unknown**

### OpenCode (cli)

- Harness: [OpenCode](/harnesses/opencode.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Gemini CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Gemini CLI](/harnesses/gemini-cli.md)
- current: **Partial**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Gemini CLI context-file documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Constraint (runtime): requires adding AGENTS.md to context.fileName because GEMINI.md is the default context filename
  - Evidence: [Google — Provide context with GEMINI.md files](https://geminicli.com/docs/cli/gemini-md/) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 4: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Gemini CLI can load AGENTS.md through its configurable context.fileName setting; AGENTS.md is not the default filename.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Aider (cli)

- Harness: [Aider](/harnesses/aider.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Goose (cli)

- Harness: [Goose](/harnesses/goose.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Copilot CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Copilot CLI](/harnesses/copilot-cli.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current GitHub Copilot CLI custom-instructions documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [GitHub — Adding custom instructions for Copilot CLI](https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-cli/customize-copilot/add-custom-instructions) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 5: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: GitHub documents AGENTS.md discovery by Copilot CLI at the repository root and other standard locations.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Amp (cli)

- Harness: [Amp](/harnesses/amp-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**