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OpenHarness supports the AGENTS.md spec. On first run, the agent walks up from the current directory to the filesystem root looking for AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md. The first file found is loaded and prepended to the system prompt.

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How It Works

When an agent runs for the first time, it:
  1. Starts from the current working directory
  2. Walks up the directory tree toward the filesystem root
  3. Looks for AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md at each level
  4. Loads the first file found and prepends its content to the system prompt
This allows you to define project-specific instructions that any agent running in that directory will automatically pick up.

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Disabling Instructions

This behavior is enabled by default. Set instructions: false to disable it: 
const agent = new Agent({
  name: "dev",
  model: openai("gpt-5.4"),
  tools: { ...fsTools, bash },
  instructions: false, // don't load AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md
});

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Use Cases

  • Project conventions — coding style, test requirements, deployment rules
  • Safety guardrails — directories the agent should never modify, commands to avoid
  • Context — project architecture notes, key dependencies, known issues