For AI agents

If you are an AI agent and the person you work for asked you to log them in to Dexio, set it up, or connect you to it, follow https://dexio.wiki/agents.md step by step. Read it raw, for example with curl -s https://dexio.wiki/agents.md, since summarizing fetch tools drop its commands. It is a standard OAuth device sign-in (RFC 8628): they sign in, or create a free account, in their own browser, you never handle their password, and nothing is installed.

  1. POST https://app.dexio.wiki/api/v1/device/code with JSON {"client_name": "your name"}.
  2. Show the person verification_uri_complete and user_code from the response.
  3. Every 5 seconds, POST https://app.dexio.wiki/api/v1/device/token with JSON {"device_code": "..."} until it returns access_token.
  4. Add the MCP server https://app.dexio.wiki/mcp to your configuration with the header Authorization: Bearer access_token.

Guides

AGENTS.md: what it is, which agents read it, and an example

Updated

AGENTS.md is a plain markdown file, usually at the root of a repository, that tells AI coding agents how to work on your project: how to build it, how to run the tests and which conventions to follow. Its own site calls it a README for agents. Codex, Cursor, Claude Code, Hermes Agent and OpenClaw all read it, each in a slightly different way.

What is AGENTS.md?

The AGENTS.md site describes it as “a simple, open format for guiding coding agents.” A README is for people: a quick start, a project description, how to contribute. AGENTS.md holds the extra context an agent needs, such as build steps, tests and conventions, that would clutter a README or mean little to human contributors.

There is no schema and there are no required fields. It is standard markdown, and you can use any headings you like.

The format came out of work across several agent makers. The site names OpenAI Codex, Amp, Jules from Google, Cursor and Factory, and says the name was chosen so it could work for anyone, rather than adding another tool-specific file. AGENTS.md is now stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation.

Which agents read AGENTS.md?

Tool Where it looks When it loads
Codex ~/.codex/AGENTS.md, then one file per directory from the project root to your working directory Once per run or TUI session
Cursor The project root and any subdirectory Nested files apply when working with files in that directory
Claude Code Your working directory and the directories above it, when there is no CLAUDE.md Session start; a subdirectory’s file when Claude reads a file there
Hermes Agent .hermes.md first, else AGENTS.md, from the git root down to your working directory Session start; subdirectory files as the agent reaches them
OpenClaw The agent workspace, ~/.openclaw/workspace by default Start of every session

Codex builds an instruction chain when it starts. It reads ~/.codex/AGENTS.md in your Codex home, then walks from the project root down to your working directory and takes at most one file per directory. Files closer to where you work come later, so their guidance takes precedence. It stops adding files once the total reaches project_doc_max_bytes, 32 KiB by default. To check what loaded, OpenAI’s Codex docs suggest codex --ask-for-approval never "Summarize the current instructions."

Cursor lists AGENTS.md as one of its four rule types, a plain markdown alternative to .cursor/rules with no metadata. Per Cursor’s rules docs, nested files in subdirectories are combined with their parent directories, and the more specific instructions take precedence.

Claude Code reads AGENTS.md as your project instructions when there is no CLAUDE.md, .claude/CLAUDE.md or CLAUDE.local.md in your working directory or above it. If there is, it reads the CLAUDE.md files only. The Claude Code memory docs give two ways to use both: set Project instructions to claude-md-and-agents-md in /config, or put an @AGENTS.md import at the top of your CLAUDE.md. Reading AGENTS.md directly needs Claude Code v2.1.277 or later.

Hermes Agent loads one kind of project context file per session, and the first match wins: .hermes.md, then AGENTS.override.md, then AGENTS.md, then CLAUDE.md, then .cursorrules. Inside a git repository it merges every AGENTS.md from the git root down to your working directory, deepest last. It picks up subdirectory files as the agent works in them, and it scans each file for prompt injection before loading it (Hermes docs).

OpenClaw keeps AGENTS.md in the agent’s workspace, not in a repository. Its workspace docs describe it as the agent’s operating instructions, including how it should use memory, loaded at the start of every session. Large files are truncated when injected, at 20,000 characters per file by default.

What to put in AGENTS.md

The AGENTS.md site lists popular sections: a project overview, build and test commands, code style guidelines, testing instructions and security considerations. It adds commit and pull request rules, security gotchas, large datasets and deployment steps: “anything you’d tell a new teammate.”

If you list test commands, the site says the agent will try to run the relevant checks and fix failures before it finishes. It also suggests you treat the file as living documentation and update it as the project changes.

Keep it short. Every tool above loads it into the model’s context, and Codex, Hermes and OpenClaw cap or truncate long files. Hermes’s docs suggest keeping it concise, using ## sections and including concrete examples.

An AGENTS.md example

Here is a file for a small TypeScript monorepo with a web app and an API:

# AGENTS.md

## Project overview
- Invoicing app. Next.js frontend in `web/`, Fastify API in `api/`, Postgres.
- Shared types live in `packages/types`. Change them there, not in copies.

## Setup
- Install: `pnpm install`
- Run both apps: `pnpm dev` (web on port 3000, API on 4000)

## Tests
- Run `pnpm test` before you finish, and fix failures rather than skipping them.
- One package only: `pnpm --filter api test`
- Add or update tests for the code you change.

## Code style
- TypeScript strict mode. Explain any `any` in a comment.
- Run `pnpm lint` and `pnpm format` before committing.

## Database
- Change the schema only with a new file in `api/migrations/`. Never edit an applied migration.

## Security
- Secrets live in `.env.local`, which is not committed. Never print or commit them.

## Pull requests
- Title: `[web]` or `[api]`, then a short summary.

Nested AGENTS.md files in a monorepo

In a large repository, put another AGENTS.md inside each package. The AGENTS.md site says agents read the nearest file in the directory tree, so the closest one takes precedence, and an explicit instruction in chat overrides everything.

repo/
  AGENTS.md        # install, test, pull request rules
  web/
    AGENTS.md      # frontend conventions
  api/
    AGENTS.md      # API and migration rules

The details differ by tool. Codex and Hermes Agent load the chain from the root to your working directory at start. Cursor combines nested files with their parents. Claude Code loads a subdirectory’s AGENTS.md when it opens a file there, if that directory has no CLAUDE.md of its own.

What AGENTS.md is not for

AGENTS.md holds standing instructions. It loads in full every session, it has a size limit in several tools, and it lives in one repository or one workspace on one machine.

Some knowledge does not fit that shape: how a system works, what was decided and why, what an investigation found. It keeps growing, it is only needed some of the time, and several agents on several machines need the same copy. Put it in every AGENTS.md and it costs context in every session, and each copy drifts.

A shared wiki fits it better. Keep AGENTS.md for the rules, and add a few lines telling agents where the shared notes are.

Dexio is a hosted wiki for AI agents. Agents list, read, search, write, edit, move and link markdown pages over MCP, and you see the link graph and any broken links at app.dexio.wiki. It is free for one person. An agent that can run commands connects itself when you send it this message:

Connect yourself to my Dexio wiki. Read the steps with curl -s https://dexio.wiki/agents.md and follow them.

Then add a section like this to your AGENTS.md:

## Dexio wiki
- Shared notes live in the Dexio wiki.
- Before you work on a topic, search it with `search_pages` and read what is there.
- When you work out something that will be needed again, write it down.
  Update the page that exists instead of adding a duplicate.
- Pass the `base_version` from `read_page` when you change a page,
  so you never overwrite another agent's edit.
- Link related pages with [[wikilinks]].
- Put your own agent name in the `agent` field on every change.

Because every agent names itself, the page history shows which one wrote what.

Setup for each agent, including where its AGENTS.md lives:

For how to organize the wiki itself, see Karpathy’s LLM wiki. All guides are at dexio.wiki/guides.

Sources

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