Setup files

Setup files are Markdown documents stored with your agent setup, such as your project's git workflow, testing approach or code review conventions. Your agents and skills read them while they work, so the same project knowledge is available to everyone using the setup.

The Files tab

Open your agent setup in the web app and go to its Files tab. It shows a tree of Markdown files and folders. Use + File and + Folder to add new entries, and give each file or folder an optional short summary that describes what it holds.

Names may contain letters, digits, ., _ and -, and must be unique within their folder. The length of a file's content and the depth of folders are limited.

How agents read setup files

Setup files are stored on the Athenode server. Currently, the CLI doesn't write them into your repository. Instead, agents and skills read them when they need them, through the CLI, from the setup installed in your project:

npx @athenode/cli setups files list
npx @athenode/cli setups files get <path>

This means a change you make in the web app is picked up the next time an agent reads the file, without regenerating anything. See the CLI page for the full list of commands.

Editing files by hand

You can edit any setup file in the web app.

The files in the settings/ folder are managed by the /athenode-init skill, which fills them in for your project. When /athenode-init runs again, it rewrites these files but keeps each file's ## Custom section unchanged.

Setup files and /athenode-init

/athenode-init asks you how your project handles testing, methodology, code review and gitflow. Before asking anything, it looks through your repository and recommends answers based on what it finds. It then saves your answers in the settings/ files. Run it when you first install a setup, and again whenever your project's conventions change. See /athenode-init for details.

What's next

• /athenode-init — fill in the settings/ files for your project
• Skills — the skills that read your setup files
• Agents — the subagents that read your setup files
• CLI — the setups files commands and how exports work