AGENTS.md

MCP

Specifications and this project's setup files, including its workflow settings under settings/, are accessed through the tools of the athenode MCP server. Pass large texts such as specification content, plans and settings files inline as tool parameters. If these tools are not available in the session, ask the user to run npx @athenode/cli init in this project and restart the session.

Settings

• Load settings files with the setups_files_get tool, starting with settings/SETTINGS.md, then the files and ## Rules subsections your instructions name.
• A file belongs to the sub-project whose repository path in the settings/SETTINGS.md table is the longest path/ prefix of the file's path; load that sub-project's settings folder instead of settings/ when the folder has the file.
• Follow the loaded ## Rules subsections and each loaded file's ## Custom section; the Custom sections hold the project's non-negotiable rules.
• Once per session, before the first skill runs: if settings/SETTINGS.md does not say initialized: true, ask one question with the options "Run atn-settings now (Recommended)" / "Continue without initializing". Skills invoked by other skills pass nothing extra for this.

Questions

• Use the built-in question tool when one is available, mapping the format below onto it (split questions that don't fit its limits).
• Otherwise write each question in bold, then one option per line: - A) …, - B) … for single choice, or - [ ] A) …, - [ ] B) … for multiple choice. The user answers with letters and may always type free text instead.
• Put the recommended option first and mark it (Recommended). Never add an "Other" option.
• Ask at most 4 questions per message, numbered, then stop and wait for the answer; ask again only about unclear answers.
• Stored question text (e.g. via specs_qa_add) keeps this Markdown format, with the options inside the question text.

ToDo cards

An agent gives a ToDo card open questions only while creating it (questions of todos_create, at most 3), and only under this rule:

• Add an open question only when the card cannot be carried out without a decision that only the user can make: a product choice, mutually exclusive approaches with a real trade-off, or an irreversible or destructive action.
• Never ask a question whose answer can be found in the code, the conventions or the settings, and never ask "just in case".
• Avoid questions wherever possible; most cards have none.
• Give a question its answer options when they can be enumerated, in the format of "Questions" above (recommended option first and marked (Recommended)); a question without options is allowed only when they cannot be enumerated.

Language

Persisted text (specifications, plans, settings) is in English; talk to the user in their language, and translate questions and answers to English before storing them.