AI Agent Configuration Standard

An AI Agent Configuration Standard is a configuration standard that defines universal formats for AI coding assistant setup.

• AKA: AGENT.md, Agent Config Format, Universal Agent Setup, Agent Instructions Standard.
• Context:
  • It can typically specify configuration syntax through markdown structures or JSON schemas with validation rules.
  • It can typically enable tool portability by replacing vendor-specific files like .cursorrules, .windsurfrules, and CLAUDE.md.
  • It can typically support configuration inheritance through hierarchical structures allowing base configurations and overrides.
  • It can typically facilitate configuration validation through schema compliance checks and syntax verification.
  • It can typically provide backward compatibility with legacy formats through translation layers.
  • It can often include metadata sections for version information, capability declarations, and tool requirements.
  • It can often support modular composition through configuration fragments that can be merged or included.
  • It can often enable context preservation across tool switches and session restarts.
  • It can range from being a Minimal AI Agent Configuration Standard to being a Comprehensive AI Agent Configuration Standard, depending on its feature coverage.
  • It can range from being a Human-Readable AI Agent Configuration Standard to being a Machine-Optimized AI Agent Configuration Standard, depending on its format priority.
  • It can range from being a Flat AI Agent Configuration Standard to being a Nested AI Agent Configuration Standard, depending on its structure depth.
  • It can range from being a Tool-Specific AI Agent Configuration Standard to being a Universal AI Agent Configuration Standard, depending on its compatibility scope.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Markdown-Based AI Agent Configuration Standards, such as:
    • AGENT.md (2024), the emerging universal standard with 20,000+ GitHub adoptions.
    • README.agent, providing project-specific agent instructions.
  • Structured AI Agent Configuration Standards, such as:
    • agent.json, offering machine-parseable configurations.
    • .agentrc, supporting runtime configuration options.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • CLAUDE.md, which is vendor-specific to Claude Code.
  • .cursorrules, which only works with Cursor IDE.
  • Hard-Coded Configuration, which lacks external configurability.
• See: CLI Agent Template Framework, Agent Configuration Migration Task, Cross-Tool Agent Compatibility System, Configuration File Format, Software Configuration Management, Development Tool Interoperability, Universal Format Specification.

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