agent sticker

Teaching agents how I like to work

I started using VS Code with different AI coding assistants — GitHub Copilot, Claude, and Codex.
All of them can help with code, but I do not want to repeat the same preferences every time:

  • use Python
  • use .venv
  • avoid overengineering
  • keep projects clean
  • never commit secrets
  • make the repo portfolio-ready

So I created a small reusable project template with simple instruction files for agents.

The idea is simple: every new project should already contain my preferred rules before the agent starts generating files.

Basic template structure

My template folder looks like this:

PYTHON-AGENT-TEMPLATE/
├─ .github/
│  └─ copilot-instructions.md
├─ .gitignore
├─ AGENTS.md
└─ CLAUDE.md

The main file is:

AGENTS.md

This is the source of truth.

The other files only point to it.

Main instruction file

AGENTS.md contains the actual rules:

- Use Python by default.
- Prefer simple, readable, functional-style code.
- Avoid classes unless they clearly improve the design.
- Use a local `.venv`.
- Never install packages globally.
- Keep projects clean, minimal, public-safe, and easy to run.
- Make projects secure, professional, and release-ready.
- Prefer this structure: `src/`, `tests/`, `README.md`, `.env.example`, `.gitignore`, `pyproject.toml`.
- For simple scripts, avoid overengineering.
- Separate API calls, parsing, business logic, and output.
- Use git.
- Never commit secrets, API keys, tokens, or `.env`.
- Keep README short and useful: purpose, install, run, environment variables, examples.
- Mention AI/agent contribution when relevant.
- Check that the project can run from a fresh clone.
- Use small logical git commits.
- Prefer practical over theoretical.
- Prefer clean and minimal over complex.
- Prefer reusable scripts and automation where it saves future work.
- Keep plain-text specs/docs close to code.
- Write beginner-readable but professional code.
- When unsure, choose the simplest maintainable solution.
- Use semantic versioning so projects can be released on GitHub.
- Make projects clear and polished enough to showcase in a portfolio.

Claude instructions

For Claude, I created:

CLAUDE.md

With only this inside:

Follow the project instructions in `AGENTS.md`.

This keeps the setup simple.
I do not want to maintain separate instruction files with different rules.

GitHub Copilot instructions

For Copilot, I created:

.github/copilot-instructions.md

With the same pointer:

Follow the project instructions in `AGENTS.md`.

Again, the idea is to keep only one real source of truth.

Codex instructions

For Codex, I use:

AGENTS.md

No extra pointer file is needed.

How I use the template

When I start a new project, I copy the template folder:

cp -R PYTHON-AGENT-TEMPLATE my-new-project
cd my-new-project
code .

On Windows PowerShell:

Copy-Item -Recurse PYTHON-AGENT-TEMPLATE my-new-project
cd my-new-project
code .

Then I ask the agent:

Read AGENTS.md first. Initialize this project according to these instructions.

After that, the agent should already know my preferred style before creating the project structure.

Initialize git

For a new project:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "initial project template"

Then I can continue building normally.

Why this matters

AI agents are powerful, but without clear instructions they may create messy projects: too many files, unnecessary classes, unclear structure, or unsafe handling of secrets.

A small AGENTS.md file helps guide the work from the beginning.

It is not magic.
But it gives the agent a clear direction.

For me, the goal is simple: every project should be clean, secure, understandable, and good enough to showcase later.

References

These filenames are based on the official documentation for each tool:

  • GitHub Copilot repository custom instructions: .github/copilot-instructions.md
    https://docs.github.com/copilot/customizing-copilot/adding-custom-instructions-for-github-copilot

  • Claude Code project memory: CLAUDE.md
    https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/memory

  • Codex custom instructions: AGENTS.md
    https://developers.openai.com/codex/guides/agents-md