Instructions
Persistent context the agent sees every session — project conventions, coding standards, always-on guidance
Extension Name Steering
Vendor Terms steering, steering files, AGENTS.md, team steering, foundational steering, file references
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / FolderOrganization / Enterprise
Interfaces IDE, CLI
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Contextual guidance, not a hard policy layer; inclusion modes control when steering loads; team steering distributed via MDM/Group Policy
Notes Supports always, fileMatch, manual, and auto inclusion modes (IDE); AGENTS.md also supported as always-included source; foundational steering files (product.md, tech.md, structure.md) auto-generated via IDE; custom agents require explicit resource inclusion for steering; workspace overrides global on conflict
Extension Name CLAUDE.md and Rules
Vendor Terms CLAUDE.md, CLAUDE.local.md, .claude/CLAUDE.md, rules, .claude/rules/*.md, @import syntax, auto memory, MEMORY.md
Scopes
Organization / EnterpriseUser / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / Folder
Interfaces terminal CLI, VS Code, Desktop, web, JetBrains
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Context files, not enforced configuration; Anthropic explicitly says compliance is not guaranteed for vague or conflicting instructions; managed policy CLAUDE.md deployed by IT cannot be excluded
Notes CLAUDE.md walks up directory tree; subdirectory files load on demand; rules can be path-scoped; managed policy CLAUDE.md at OS-level paths cannot be excluded; @path import syntax with 5-hop recursive depth; AGENTS.md supported via @import; claudeMdExcludes for monorepo filtering; auto memory is a complementary per-working-tree system
Extension Name Custom Instructions
Vendor Terms custom instructions, personal instructions, repository instructions, path-specific instructions, organization instructions, agent instructions, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, workspace instructions
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / FolderOrganization / Enterprise
Interfaces GitHub.com, VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode, CLI
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Always-on context additions, not hard policy guards; precedence-based concatenation with more specific files overriding broader ones
Notes VS Code and Visual Studio fully supported; JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode in preview; GitHub.com and CLI supported; precedence order: Personal > Path-specific > Repository-wide > Agent > Organization; organization instructions only on GitHub.com
Extension Name AGENTS.md Instructions
Vendor Terms AGENTS.md, AGENTS.override.md, custom instructions, project_doc_fallback_filenames
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / Folder
Interfaces CLI, IDE extension
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Prompt-time guidance loaded at run start; more specific files override by concatenation order rather than hard policy
Notes Discovery chain: global (~/.codex) reads AGENTS.override.md first then AGENTS.md; project scope walks from root to CWD checking override then standard per directory; combined size capped at 32 KiB (configurable via project_doc_max_bytes); fallback filenames configurable; CODEX_HOME env var overrides home directory