# AGENTS.md Blank Starter

The universal skeleton from Appendix B. Write the file in one sitting; one page is plenty, the agent skims anything longer. Fill every [BRACKET], then save the briefing under the filename and location on your [tool's setup card](https://abeburnett.com/vibe-coding/setup/). Many tools use `AGENTS.md`; Claude Code uses `CLAUDE.md`. For a browser tool, use its project-instructions setting or paste the briefing at the start of each conversation. Before Chapter 3, use invented role details rather than real internal information.

```
# AGENTS.md

## Role
[Your title and what you actually do, two lines max. Who reads your work.
Write it like you'd explain your job to a cousin, not to HR.]

## Team vocabulary
[Every acronym and internal name you use without thinking, defined in a
few words. MQL. RFP. The funnel deck. Agents guess wrong on acronyms
constantly.]

## Recurring artifacts
- [Artifact name]: [cadence, reader, shape. Example: monthly report, first
  Monday, director, one page.]
- [Artifact]: [cadence, reader, shape.]
- [Artifact]: [on request, and what triggers it.]

## Tone
[How you write: sentence length, formality, numbers first or context first,
bullets or prose. End with what you hate: corporate-speak, long answers,
surprises in the last line.]

## Never paste
[Chapter 3's list in your own words: customer data, employee records,
credentials, unreleased financials, anything under NDA or legal hold. Add
your office's extras. Then the habit: fake rows in the real shape,
always.]

## Output conventions
[Formats: .docx, .xlsx, .md, one page, email drafts, decks. File naming,
file location, what to confirm before sending.]
```

Three notes before you paste.

- Keep the role honest. The agent does not need your org chart. It needs what you actually do. That shapes every draft.
- The never-paste line is the most important slot. Write it in your own words so it reads like a rule you believe, and keep the replacement habit beside it: the thing stays, the description goes.
- Output conventions are the slot everyone skips, which is why drafts come back in the wrong format. Name the format you want and the agent stops asking.

## The Style File Block

Voice is a checklist, not a feeling. Paste this block into AGENTS.md, or keep it as its own file in the same folder. Three parts: rules, exemplars, a test.

```
## Style file
Greetings: ["Hi Dana," / "Dana," / none]
Sentence habits: [short sentences, a line cap, numbers up front, one
idea per paragraph]
Banned words: [leverage, circle back, best regards, exclamation points,
plus your list; add a word whenever you delete it from a draft]
Sign-offs: [first initial / "Thanks, name" / nothing]
Register: [warm but firm, formal, plain spoken. Name one voice]
Exemplars: [five messages that got the reply you wanted, in full, best
first]
The test: three checks before anything ships. Would you open it this way,
sign it this way, read it aloud without feeling like a fraud? Pass all
three and it ships.
Draft prompt: "Write this in the voice of the style file. Same facts, same ask."
```

## Keeping It Alive

Start skeletal: five sections, one line each, one afternoon. The file pays for itself long before it is perfect.

The one maintenance rule: **when you correct the agent twice on the same thing, add that rule to the file.** Two corrections means the guess is structural, not a fluke. Writing it down means the third time never happens.

Review the file quarterly, the week you refresh your calendar. Roles shift, teams rename things, acronyms colonize the office. A stale file makes the agent sound like the person you were last quarter.

Keep it under two pages. One current page beats a stale one. When the agent answers the way you would, the file is doing its job.