apex-accelerator: Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

.github/instructions/agent-operating-frame.instructions.md

apex-accelerator agent-operating-frame.instructions.md is an instructions file for GitHub Copilot from jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator. It costs 611 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

A shared set of operating rules for the project's main coding agents. It explains how agents should read instruction files once, reuse cached project information, and avoid editing upstream work.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to guide agents during multi-step workflows, especially when they must inspect skills, references, cached decisions, and earlier artifacts.
Why use it?
Without shared rules, each agent may repeat file reads, waste context, or handle earlier work inconsistently. This gives them a common working method.

Instructions file for GitHub Copilot

Written for GitHub Copilot: a Copilot instructions file.

This is jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator's own configuration. It tells GitHub Copilot how to work on apex-accelerator itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything apex-accelerator configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/main/.github/instructions/agent-operating-frame.instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator

Made for: GitHub Copilot.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for apex-accelerator agent-operating-frame.instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for apex-accelerator agent-operating-frame.instructions.md

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator/agent-operating-frame.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 611 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 611 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00611 $0.00611
Opus 5.5 $0.00244 $0.00244
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00122 $0.00122
Haiku 4.5 $0.00061 $0.00061

Measured 6d ago against content hash 38f6b4dbaef0, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

apex-accelerator agent-operating-frame.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 6d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.github/instructions/agent-operating-frame.instructions.md · 55 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 55 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Agent Operating Frame

An authoring applyTo match does not prove runtime attachment. Keep essential constraints in the agent body.

Native interaction

Every directly selected main can use actual ask_user for material missing inputs. Requirements, Architect, Design and Governance retain their interactive discovery/clarification role. Batch independent fields, validate freeform values and reuse current answers. Native requestedSchema contains only properties; root type, required and additionalProperties are not tool parameters. Direct ask_user receives only message and requestedSchema. Delegated envelopes keep unresolved names outside the schema in needed_inputs. Delegated mains return a stable USER_INPUT_REQUIRED form to the interactive parent and stop the phase. Leaves never ask users, delegate or manage parent todos. An absent question tool blocks a required decision; no guessed defaults or terminal prompts. Native Autopilot can answer questions; a form return is not independent human authorization.

Scope and current evidence

  • Load only current-phase skills/references, reuse available unchanged sections and recover missing required guidance after source changes, compaction or a new chat.
  • Recover project state through apex-recall show <project> --json; no direct state JSON reads/writes. A file inventory is not artifact content or approval evidence.
  • Respect domain ownership/frozen inputs and actual governance/security. Return drift to its owner, not an inline upstream replacement.
  • User instructions outrank skill style/workflow choices, not security/governance/approval requirements. Name the path and exact blocking requirement when relevant.
  • Validate written non-Markdown shapes and actual commands before passing results. Markdown artifact validation follows the designated Git/review owner.

Native tasks

Use explicit scope, inputs, outputs and failure criteria in actual native task prompts. Consume actual results and only supported same-task handles; one-shot tasks are not universally resumable. No worker-ready turn, custom execution envelope, per-worker log gate or handoff-button dependency. The graph defines domain prerequisites/owners, not permission or native UI transitions. Runtime hooks are retired and must not be restored.

Read the full file on GitHub · 55 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 6d ago Changed · -31 lines · -443 tokens per session 38f6b4dbaef0
  2. 27d ago Changed · +14 tokens per session b8be31fd53b8
  3. 1mo ago Changed · +1 lines · +38 tokens per session a64cc6cacf56
  4. 1mo ago Changed · -21 lines · -228 tokens per session edfb6af5d344
  5. 1mo ago First seen · 106 lines · 1,230 tokens per session scan A 67801531504b

Subscribe to this mod's changes

apex-accelerator agent-operating-frame.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository jonathan-vella/apex-accelerator (50 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 611 tokens to every session, about $0.0024 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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