Re: [PATCH] docs: add AGENTS.md as a symlink to README

[Sasha Levin]

On Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 04:08:08PM +0100, Bradley Morgan wrote:
> On 24 September 2026 14:49:45 BST, Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Most coding agents have standardized on AGENTS.md as the file they load
> > automatically from the root of a repository. README already tells AI
> > tools to read and follow Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst,
> > but that only helps if the agent decides to read README before acting,
> > which in practice it often doesn't.
> >
> > Add a top-level AGENTS.md symlink to README, so agents load it on their
> > own and follow its pointer to the AI guidelines. This keeps a single
> > entry point for every reader, and avoids adding a separate copy of the
> > policy that could drift from the RST.
> >
> > As an example, two different agents were asked to "create a new commit
> > renaming the release (in the Makefile) to AI Test".
> >
> > Without AGENTS.md, the first agent added a Signed-off-by for the user on
> > its own. It should never have done that: only the human submitter can
> > certify the Developer Certificate of Origin, after reviewing the change.
> > It also used its own attribution tag instead of Assisted-by:
> >
> > > Makefile: rename release to AI Test
> > >
> > > Co-Authored-By: <model name> <noreply@...>
> > > Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > The second agent added no attribution at all:
> >
> > > Rename release to AI Test
> >
> > With AGENTS.md in place, neither agent added a Signed-off-by, and both
> > used the Assisted-by tag. README itself mentions neither tag, so both
> > agents followed its pointer to coding-assistants.rst:
> >
> > > Makefile: rename release to "AI Test"
> > >
> > > Change the release name from "Baby Opossum Posse" to "AI Test".
> > >
> > > Assisted-by: LLM
> >
> > > Makefile: rename release to AI Test
> > >
> > > Assisted-by: LLM
> >
> > Both agents also followed the kernel's general guidelines more closely.
> > The second agent's subject gained the "subsystem: summary phrase" form
> > that submitting-patches.rst asks for, instead of a bare "Rename release
> > to AI Test", and the first agent added a body describing the change.
> >
> > Assisted-by: LLM
> > Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> NAK, we could add to memories that to read soandso file before every
> patch, and then it wouldn't increase tokens then?

Could you help me understand what you meant here? I'm aware some agents use a
notion of "memories", but I don't think they standardized on it in any way, nor
how we could incorporate them here?

And as far as I'm aware, nothing is free here - those "memories" still use
tokens.

--
Thanks,
Sasha