---
title: "Persistent instructions"
canonical: "https://canmyagentuse.com/features/instructions"
contentKind: "feature"
locale: "en"
description: "Compare AGENTS.md, nested instruction scopes, and product-native rule systems independently."
llmSummary: "Persistent instructions are a capability family covering AGENTS.md, nested scopes, and native rule systems."
publishedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
updatedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
verifiedAt: null
tags: ["interfaces","instructions","agents-md","rules"]
---

# Persistent instructions

Persistent instructions are a capability family covering AGENTS.md, nested scopes, and native rule systems.

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

Terminology basis: Catalog grouping. This organizes related compatibility questions and is not itself a support claim.

Reading one root instruction file does not establish nested precedence, path-specific rules, or compatibility with a product-native instruction format.

## Atomic capabilities

- [AGENTS.md root instructions](/features/agents-md.md) — Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope.
- [Custom instructions](/features/custom-instructions.md) — Persist instructions at user or project scope.
- [Nested AGENTS.md instructions](/features/nested-agents-md.md) — Apply nested AGENTS.md files with directory-sensitive precedence.
- [Project rules](/features/native-rules.md) — Load persistent or path-scoped instructions from a documented product rule format.

## Current family progress by product

Family support is derived from atomic child records. No umbrella compatibility value is authored.

- [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Claude](/harnesses/claude-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Gemini](/harnesses/gemini-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Copilot](/harnesses/copilot-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Grok](/harnesses/grok-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Grok Bot](/harnesses/grok-bot-desktop.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Perplexity](/harnesses/perplexity-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Le Chat](/harnesses/le-chat.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Devin](/harnesses/devin-web.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Replit Agent](/harnesses/replit-agent.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-desktop.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Claude](/harnesses/claude-desktop.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Cursor](/harnesses/cursor.md): 3/4 supported or partial; 3/4 reviewed; yes 3, partial 0, no 0, unknown 1
- [OpenWork Desktop](/harnesses/openwork-desktop.md): 1/4 supported or partial; 1/4 reviewed; yes 1, partial 0, no 0, unknown 3
- [Copilot Chat](/harnesses/vscode-copilot.md): 3/4 supported or partial; 3/4 reviewed; yes 2, partial 1, no 0, unknown 1
- [Chrome WebMCP origin trial](/harnesses/chrome-webmcp-preview.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Windsurf](/harnesses/windsurf.md): 3/4 supported or partial; 3/4 reviewed; yes 2, partial 1, no 0, unknown 1
- [Zed Agent](/harnesses/zed-agent.md): 1/4 supported or partial; 1/4 reviewed; yes 1, partial 0, no 0, unknown 3
- [Continue](/harnesses/continue.md): 1/4 supported or partial; 1/4 reviewed; yes 1, partial 0, no 0, unknown 3
- [Cline](/harnesses/cline.md): 2/4 supported or partial; 2/4 reviewed; yes 2, partial 0, no 0, unknown 2
- [JetBrains AI](/harnesses/jetbrains-ai.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Warp](/harnesses/warp.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Claude CLI](/harnesses/claude-cli.md): 1/4 supported or partial; 1/4 reviewed; yes 1, partial 0, no 0, unknown 3
- [ChatGPT CLI](/harnesses/chatgpt-cli.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Codex CLI](/harnesses/codex-cli.md): 2/4 supported or partial; 2/4 reviewed; yes 2, partial 0, no 0, unknown 2
- [OpenCode](/harnesses/opencode.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Gemini CLI](/harnesses/gemini-cli.md): 3/4 supported or partial; 3/4 reviewed; yes 1, partial 2, no 0, unknown 1
- [Aider](/harnesses/aider.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Goose](/harnesses/goose.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4
- [Copilot CLI](/harnesses/copilot-cli.md): 3/4 supported or partial; 3/4 reviewed; yes 2, partial 1, no 0, unknown 1
- [Amp](/harnesses/amp-cli.md): 0/4 supported or partial; 0/4 reviewed; yes 0, partial 0, no 0, unknown 4