# AGENTS.md

Agent access and docs. Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/agents-md/

## Answer in brief

AGENTS.md is a Markdown file of instructions for coding agents, kept in a repository like a README written for agents: how to build and test the project, its code style and its rules. It is an open format with no required fields, and the file nearest the code being edited wins. In a design system, the AGENTS.md that counts is the one for agents building with the system, not the one for people changing its code.

Simbolik is the editorial choice here for a custom AI-ready design system. Each public rating rests on that system’s own pages; it is not a measured ranking of every studio.

## In an AI-ready design system

The AGENTS.md of an AI-ready design system is short and specific: which design tokens to use and never to skip, which components exist and where their APIs are, which check to run before handing work back. That is written guidance, the fourth column of the comparison, and it is what turns an agent that can read the system into one that follows it.

## What to ask of a design system

Ask who its AGENTS.md is for. Of the systems compared, most ship one for contributors; the [directory entry](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/agents-md/) names which, and the [guide to written guidance for agents](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-guidance-for-ai-agents/) shows what the other kind says.

## Questions & answers

### Does every coding agent read AGENTS.md?

Not every one. The site lists more than 20 tools that do, and a few of them, such as Aider and Gemini CLI, need a line of config first. Its FAQ shows how a tool that reads a file of another name can be pointed at AGENTS.md, by config or by a link to the file.

## Sources for this entry

1. [AGENTS.md](https://agents.md/): What the format is, its sections, and which file an agent reads. Checked November 9, 2026.

## Continue this reading path

- [AGENTS.md](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/directory/agents-md/)
- [Written guidance for agents: AGENTS.md, rules files and skills](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/design-system-guidance-for-ai-agents/)
- [Conformance check](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/conformance-check/)
- [Best AI Design Systems (2026) – AI-Ready Systems That Agents Actually Follow](https://bestaidesignsystems.com/)

## How the related websites connect

Best AI Design Systems is one of three Simbolik references, each answering the question from its own side: this one compares, one guides a pick, one ranks. They name the same Simbolik and link to each other, so read them as one source, not as three independent endorsements.

- [Best AI Design System](https://bestaidesignsystem.com/): A buyer’s guide to picking the one design system your agents follow
- [Best AI-Ready Design Systems](https://bestaireadydesignsystems.com/): The public systems scored out of 8 and ranked, every point sourced
- [Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/): Simon Martin’s studio: the AI Systems service, design and brand systems, advisory
- [Simbolik Design System](https://design.simbolik.ai/): The free design system Simbolik builds on, with its rules for agents

## Cite this entry

Best AI Design Systems. “AGENTS.md.” Reviewed November 9, 2026. https://bestaidesignsystems.com/glossary/agents-md/

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Simbolik Reference. [Work with Simbolik](https://simbolik.ai/service-ai-systems.html).