24 figures this site states about the world, each with the page it was read off.

over 60k open-source projects

AGENTS.md is just standard Markdown. Use any headings you like; the agent simply parses the text you provide.

Agents automatically read the nearest file in the directory tree, so the closest one takes precedence and every subproject can ship tailored instructions.

Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, not AGENTS.md. The documented workaround is a CLAUDE.md containing `@AGENTS.md`, or a symlink.

@path/to/import syntax; relative and absolute paths; imported files can recursively import, maximum depth of four hops

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, personal preferences for all projects. Also a managed-policy scope and a gitignored ./CLAUDE.local.md.

Yes, but not in CLAUDE.md itself: `.claude/rules/*.md` files take a YAML `paths:` frontmatter field of glob patterns and load only when Claude reads a matching file.

Always Apply, Apply Intelligently, Apply to Specific Files, Apply Manually

Project rules live in `.cursor/rules` as `.mdc` files. A plain `.md` file in `.cursor/rules` is ignored.

Yes. Cursor supports AGENTS.md in the project root and subdirectories, described as a simple alternative to .cursor/rules.

Cursor's current rules documentation does not mention .cursorrules at all. Its stated project-rules mechanism is .cursor/rules/*.mdc.

cursor.com/docs/rules, cursor.com/docs/context/rules now returns 308 Permanent Redirect to cursor.com/docs/rules

Always included. Globs and description are ignored.

code.claude.com/docs/en, docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/memory now returns 301 Moved Permanently to code.claude.com/docs/en/memory

target under 200 lines per CLAUDE.md file. Longer files consume more context and reduce adherence.

Keep it to facts Claude should hold in every session: build commands, conventions, project layout, "always do X" rules.

cuts content Claude can derive from the codebase, such as directory layouts, dependency lists, and architecture overviews, and keeps pitfalls, rationale, and conventions that differ from tool defaults

Splitting into @path imports helps organization but doesn't reduce context, since imported files load at launch.

./CLAUDE.md or ./.claude/CLAUDE.md. Files above the working directory load in full at launch; files in subdirectories load on demand when Claude reads a file in that subdirectory.

AGENTS.md is now stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation.

Project-root CLAUDE.md survives compaction: after /compact, Claude re-reads it from disk and re-injects it into the session. Nested CLAUDE.md files in subdirectories and rules with paths: frontmatter reload as Claude reads files they apply to.

All discovered files are concatenated into context rather than overriding each other, ordered from the filesystem root down to the working directory. Files in subdirectories are included when Claude reads files in those subdirectories.

/import appends a one-time copy of instruction files such as AGENTS.md to the matching CLAUDE.md and carries over MCP servers, commands, subagents and skills. Requires Claude Code v2.1.213 or later.

23 tools, named on agents.md: OpenAI Codex, Google Jules, Factory, Aider, goose, opencode, Zed, Warp, VS Code, Devin, UiPath Autopilot, Junie (JetBrains), Amp, Cursor, RooCode, Gemini CLI, Kilo Code, Phoenix, Semgrep, GitHub Copilot coding agent, Ona, Windsurf, Augment Code.