Agents Md

AGENTS.md

The plugin dcc-plugin-agents-md loads AGENTS.md files in the places where Claude Code loads CLAUDE.md. It replaces the built-in plugin cc-plugin-agents-md, so turn that plugin off when you install this one. It works without the core plugin, and it imports nothing from another plugin.

The source is in src/plugins/dcc-plugin-agents-md/. The one slice is agents, and its hooks are in slices/agents/adapters/mod.ts.

Install

1. Install the plugin with /plugin install dcc-plugin-agents-md@dotclaude.
2. Turn off the built-in plugin cc-plugin-agents-md@builtin in /plugin.

The plugin needs no key and no tool on PATH.

The Files That It Loads

Place	Files	When
The user folder	AGENTS.md in CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, or in ~/.claude	At the start of the session
Each ancestor of the working directory	AGENTS.md, .claude/AGENTS.md, and AGENTS.local.md	At the start of the session
A folder below the session root	The same names as an ancestor	When Claude reads or changes a file there with Read, Edit, Write, or a Bash read, or when you mention a file there
Each folder of permissions.additionalDirectories	The same names as an ancestor	At the start, when CLAUDE_CODE_ADDITIONAL_DIRECTORIES_CLAUDE_MD is 1

A file at the start goes into the instruction files, as a CLAUDE.md file does. A nested file goes into the result of the tool call or the mention, as one block of context.

No File Loads Twice

• The plugin skips a file that the instruction files already hold, by its path or by the same trimmed text. So a file that a CLAUDE file imports or links to does not load again.
• The @ imports of an AGENTS file come from the loader of Claude Code, so the plugin does not resolve them itself.
• A nested file loads once in a session. After a compaction, the nested file loads again on the next read, because the compaction removed its text. A new session loads each file again.
• claudeMdExcludes applies to the AGENTS files too. As in Claude Code, each \ of a path and of a glob is a / for the match, so a glob with / also matches a Windows path.

What the Files Cost

A sandbox session loaded 5 AGENTS files, and then loaded the same text as CLAUDE files. The count_tokens API counted the requests.

Files	As AGENTS Files	As CLAUDE Files
The files of the start, in the first request	16,772 tokens	16,789 tokens
One nested file	73 tokens	66 tokens

So the files of the start cost 17 tokens less than CLAUDE files. Each nested file costs 7 tokens more than a nested CLAUDE.md. Claude Code puts the prefix tool.call hook additional context: before the context of a hook, and the plugin cannot remove it.

Limits

• The mods API does not show the --add-dir folders of the CLI. The plugin reads only permissions.additionalDirectories from the settings.
• The plugin fails open: a failed read loads no file and does not change the tool call.

The evidence is in .dotclaude/spec/changes/1.0.0/evidence/agents-md.md.

Related Pages

• You Should Know: the next add-on page.
• Add-On Plugins: the list of the add-on plugins.