AGENTS.md Generator Skill
Netresearch AI skill for generating and maintaining AGENTS.md files following the agents.md specification.
What is AGENTS.md? A context file written for AI coding agents, not humans. Human readability is a side effect, not a goal. Adopted by 60,000+ open-source projects. See the official specification and best practices from 2,500+ repositories.
Standards Compliance
This skill implements two complementary standards:
-
agents.md - The file format this skill generates. A simple Markdown convention for guiding AI coding agents, supported by Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and 60,000+ open-source projects.
-
Agent Skills - How this skill is packaged and distributed. A portable format for procedural knowledge that works across AI agents.
Supported Platforms:
- ✅ Claude Code (Anthropic)
- ✅ Cursor
- ✅ GitHub Copilot
- ✅ Other skills-compatible AI agents
Features
- Thin Root Files - ~30 lines with precedence rules and global defaults
- Scoped Files - Automatic subsystem detection (backend/, frontend/, internal/, cmd/)
- Auto-Extraction - Commands from Makefile, package.json, composer.json, go.mod
- Multi-Language - Templates for Go, PHP, TypeScript, Python, and hybrid projects
- Idempotent Updates - Preserve existing structure while refreshing content
- Managed Headers - Mark files as agent-maintained with timestamps
Installation
Marketplace (Recommended)
Add the Netresearch marketplace once, then browse and install skills:
# Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add netresearch/claude-code-marketplace
Install with any Agent Skills-compatible agent:
npx skills add https://github.com/netresearch/agent-rules-skill --skill agent-rules
Download Release
Download the latest release and extract to your agent's skills directory.
Git Clone
git clone https://github.com/netresearch/agent-rules-skill.git
Composer (PHP Projects)
composer require netresearch/agent-rules-skill
Requires netresearch/composer-agent-skill-plugin.
npm (Node Projects)
npm install --save-dev \
@netresearch/agent-skill-coordinator \
github:netresearch/agent-rules-skill
Requires @netresearch/agent-skill-coordinator, which discovers the skill in node_modules and registers it in AGENTS.md via a postinstall hook. For pnpm, also allowlist the coordinator's postinstall:
{
"pnpm": {
"onlyBuiltDependencies": ["@netresearch/agent-skill-coordinator"]
}
}
Usage
The skill triggers on keywords like:
- "AGENTS.md", "agents file"
- "agent documentation", "AI onboarding"
- "project context for AI"
Example Prompts
"Generate AGENTS.md for this project"
"Update the agents documentation"
"Create scoped AGENTS.md files for each subsystem"
"Validate AGENTS.md structure"
Supported Projects
| Type | Detection | Features |
|---|
| Go | go.mod | Version extraction, CLI tool detection |
| PHP | composer.json | TYPO3/Laravel/Symfony detection |
| TypeScript | package.json | React/Next.js/Vue/Express detection |
| Python | pyproject.toml | Poetry/Ruff/Django/Flask detection |
| Hybrid | Multiple markers | Auto-creates scoped files per stack |
Structure
agents/
├── SKILL.md # AI instructions
├── README.md # This file
├── LICENSE-MIT # Code license (MIT)
├── LICENSE-CC-BY-SA-4.0 # Content license (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
├── composer.json # PHP distribution
├── references/ # Convention documentation
├── scripts/ # Generator scripts
│ ├── generate-agents.sh
│ ├── validate-structure.sh
│ └── detect-scopes.sh
└── templates/ # Language-specific templates
├── go/
├── php/
├── typescript/
└── python/
Contributing
Contributions welcome! Please submit PRs for:
- Additional language templates
- Detection signal improvements
- Script enhancements
- Documentation updates
License
This project uses split licensing:
- Code (scripts, workflows, configs): MIT
- Content (skill definitions, documentation, references): CC-BY-SA-4.0
See the individual license files for full terms.
Credits
Developed and maintained by Netresearch DTT GmbH.
