# AGENTS.md with the required sections

> AGENTS.md with the required sections: The instruction file for coding and operations agents. The fix: publish AGENTS.md.

- Source: /checks/agents-md
- Site: AgenticWebScore
- Language: English

---
The instruction file for coding and operations agents. It fails more often than any other check in the curated corpus we measured, and the usual reason is not a missing file but a file without the sections an agent needs.

| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Check id | `agents-md` |
| Dimension | Discoverability (20%) |
| Tier | Recommended — pool 20 pts |
| Weight inside tier | 2 |
| Impact | High |
| Maturity | Draft — A published specification that is not yet ratified. |
| Conditional | No |
| Publishing skill | `agents-md` |
| Standards | — |

## What the scanner requests

- `/AGENTS.md`

## What is measured

The scanner fetches https://<domain>/AGENTS.md (the path this check probes) and reads it as markdown. Pass = 200 served as text/markdown or text/plain, with an H1 and the sections an agent needs to act: what the project or service is, setup or build commands, how to run tests, code or API conventions, and security or contact rules. Partial = the file is served but omits one or more of those sections, or is returned as text/html. Fail = 404 or an HTML page for the path.

## Reproduce it yourself

You do not have to take our word for any of this. Run the same measurement against your own domain:

```bash
DOMAIN=example.com
curl -sS "https://$DOMAIN/AGENTS.md" | head -30
```

## The fix

This is the artifact to ship. It is the complete change, not a description of one.

```markdown
# AGENTS.md

## Project overview

Example Inc is a payments API for marketplaces. Public docs: https://example.com/docs

## Setup and build

- Install dependencies: `pnpm install`
- Dev server: `pnpm dev` (http://localhost:3000)
- Production build: `pnpm build`

## Testing

- Tests: `pnpm test`; lint and types: `pnpm lint && pnpm typecheck`

## Conventions

- TypeScript strict mode; no `any` in exported signatures.
- Public API routes live in `src/routes/api/` and must be documented in the OpenAPI file.

## Security and contact

- Never commit secrets; use `.env.local`.
- Report vulnerabilities to security@example.com.
```

> AGENTS.md is plain markdown with no mandated fields, so the headings above are the sections this audit looks for - and in a monorepo the file nearest the edited code wins.

## Related checks

| Check | Tier | Impact | Same skill |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `reachable` — Homepage open to agent access | Essential | Critical | — |
| `robots-txt` — robots.txt with agent directives | Essential | High | — |
| `sitemap-xml` — sitemap.xml valid and current | Essential | High | — |
| `llms-txt` — /llms.txt published and well-structured | Essential | Critical | — |
| `link-headers` — Discovery via Link response headers | Emerging | Medium | — |
| `dns-aid` — DNS-AID discovery record | Emerging | Medium | — |
| `canonical` — Canonical and hreflang discipline | Recommended | Medium | — |
| `llms-full` — /llms-full.txt expanded context | Recommended | Low | — |