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Claude Code now reads AGENTS.md if there is no Claude.md

741 points · 285 comments · datadrivenangel

  1. Madmallard · · focus · HN ↗
    Still don't understand the point of the markdown files.

    Isn't it literally all just more text you're adding to the prompt. How can you even be sure it isn't just clouding context with nonsense for whatever you're asking for?

    1. mcherm · · focus · HN ↗
      You know it because you write the content of AGENTS.md. And if you are smart, you keep it brief and cover only the important things that anyone (human OR LLM) would want to know if working in this directory.
      1. Madmallard · · focus · HN ↗
        As far as I understand even adding relevant information still eventually clouds context
        1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
          You still need to define assumptions somehow. What you want and what the model wants will not match up by default.
          1. Madmallard · · focus · HN ↗
            In my experience telling it what I want is not a reliable process at all whatsoever if what I'm asking for is sufficiently complex, no matter what context I provide. So instead I break tasks down into very small parts, ask for solutions to those that I can reasonably quickly assess and then put them together myself. Asking it to do the architectural or deep algorithmic legwork IME wastes so much time and is often just wrong.
            1. verdverm · · focus · HN ↗
              A good practice to use (ime) is having it do research for the larger task, propose alternatives, and write that in a file. You can then review and comment that up, go through another iteration.

              Then when it comes to implementation time, things typically go much smoother for larger changesets. Be wary to not overplan, as we all know how often we realized we missed something once we get into the details. Here, I stop the session and go back to iterating on the design/plan doc. Not a step-by-step guide, if you don't instruct them to the difference, they will just pseudo-implement in the plan like they do in their thinking traces, need to be be explicit about the level of detail.

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