Developer MCP incorrectly includes goose-specific setup instructions in external projects

[sheikhlimon]

The hints system loads any AGENTS.md file it finds in the current directory tree, regardless of whether the project is actually the goose repository. This causes goose-specific setup instructions (like source bin/activate-hermit) to be applied to external projects where they don't belong.

Current Behavior:

• When working in any directory containing an AGENTS.md file, goose loads it as "Project Hints"
• The system walks from current directory up to git root, collecting all AGENTS.md files found
• These get embedded into the agent's instructions, leading to goose-specific commands being suggested in unrelated projects

Problem Scenario:
I'm working on a personal project using fnm for Node.js version management, but goose keeps trying to run source bin/activate-hermit because it's loading goose's AGENTS.md content.

Suggested Solutions:

1. Repository-aware hints: Only load goose-specific hints when actually in the goose repository (detect via remote URL or specific markers)
2. Scoped hint files: Use different filenames for goose-specific vs general project hints
3. Explicit opt-in: Require a flag or config to load AGENTS.md from external projects

Root Cause:
The load_hint_files() function in crates/goose/src/hints/load_hints.rs treats all AGENTS.md files equally, without context about whether they belong to goose or an external project.

Edit: I told goose why its doing this and it removed it

What was causing the hermit issue:

• The Goose Desktop environment had a wrapper /opt/goose-desktop/resources/bin/node that automatically invoked hermit
• This was not something you set up - it was forced by the environment

What I did:
✅ Removed the hermit directory: rm -rf ~/.config/goose/mcp-hermit

[sheikhlimon]

@blackgirlbytes

[blackgirlbytes]

why cant it do this part

The developer MCP server loads AGENTS.md files from any directory as "Project Hints"? goose respects AGENTS.md

[sheikhlimon]

probably because the hints system doesn't have repository awareness - it just loads any AGENTS.md it finds without checking context

Edit: current logic in load_hint_files() treats all AGENTS.md files equally - it just searches up the directory tree and loads anything named AGENTS.md it finds. There's no code to check if we're actually in the goose repository vs an external project

[DOsinga]

I'm confused as to what we think is broken here vs what we think the behavior should be

goose is supposed to load the AGENTS.md in the current directory and then work its way up collecting AGENTS.md until it either hits / or it hits a git root. is this not what is happening? why does it go into the folder where the goose repository lives? is that a parent of your current project?

[sheikhlimon]

I'm confused as to what we think is broken here vs what we think the behavior should be

goose is supposed to load the AGENTS.md in the current directory and then work its way up collecting AGENTS.md until it either hits / or it hits a git root. is this not what is happening? why does it go into the folder where the goose repository lives? is that a parent of your current project?

My project is completely separate from the goose repository. They're in different directories. I'm suspecting goose is somehow finding the AGENTS.md from the goose repository even when I'm working in a completely unrelated project folder. Only then it would explain why goose keeps trying to run source bin/activate-hermit or looks for hermit and tries to set up hermit. Or it could be different but in simple terms it tries to look for node to setting up ts or js project and that's when it tries to source hermit as first priority.

[sheikhlimon]

[sheikhlimon]