---
title: "AGENTS.md"
canonical: "https://canmyagentuse.com/specs/agents-md"
contentKind: "specification"
locale: "en"
description: "Community Markdown convention for repository-scoped instructions consumed with host-specific discovery and precedence rules."
llmSummary: "AGENTS.md is a repository instruction convention. Filename recognition, nested discovery, precedence, scope, and merge behavior can differ by harness."
publishedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
updatedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
verifiedAt: null
tags: ["instructions","repositories","agents-md"]
---

# AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md is a repository instruction convention. Filename recognition, nested discovery, precedence, scope, and merge behavior can differ by harness.

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

AGENTS.md is an instruction-file convention, not a runtime protocol. Hosts can differ in where they search, whether nested files override or merge, which filenames coexist, and how instructions interact with user or system rules.

The catalog therefore treats root discovery, nested discovery, precedence, and scope as separate capabilities. Recognizing the same filename does not establish identical semantics.

## Revision identity

- Authority: Community convention
- Revision: living
- Maturity: convention
- Structure: Markdown instruction file with host-specific discovery and precedence
- Canonical specification: https://agents.md/
- Roles: repository-author, consuming-agent