Borrowing it
Nothing to install: this file belongs to knowns-dev/knowns. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/knowns-dev/knowns/main/AGENTS.mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/knowns-dev/knownsWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/knowns-dev/knowns/agents-md)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/knowns-dev/knowns/agents-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/knowns-dev/knowns/agents-md/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.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/knowns-dev/knowns/agents-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/knowns-dev/knowns/agents-md.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00465 | $0.00465 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00186 | $0.00186 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00093 | $0.00093 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00047 | $0.00047 |
Grade A, and why
knowns AGENTS.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 2mo 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.
What it actually says
AGENTS
Compatibility entrypoint for runtimes that auto-detect AGENTS.md.
CRITICAL: Start with Knowns MCP initial when available. Use help("tool.*") or help("workflow.*") for domain details on demand.
Runtime Guidance
- Knowns is the repository memory layer for humans and the AI-friendly working layer for agents.
- MCP
initialis the primary AI bootstrap: project state, tool domains, code rules, and workflow routing. - MCP
helpis the primary on-demand source for action schemas and recipes. - Treat this file only as a lightweight compatibility entrypoint.
Minimum Rules
- Use Knowns as the canonical system for tasks, docs, templates, and workflow state.
- Never manually edit Knowns-managed task or doc markdown.
- Search first, then read only relevant docs and code.
- Use
searchfor discovery; use MCPretrievetool when a workflow needs structured context with citations. Fall back to CLIknowns retrieveif MCP is unavailable. - For code operations, use
codetool:find/symbolsfor structure,references/definitionfor navigation,rename/replace/replace_body/insert/deletefor editing. Usehelp("code.*")orhelp("workflow.code-edit")for details. - Plan before implementation unless the user explicitly overrides that workflow.
- Validate before considering work complete.
- Use memory tools:
memory({ action: "list" })at session start,memory({ action: "add" })after tasks for reusable knowledge. - Proactively capture durable memory when scope and durability are clear.
Quick Reference
knowns doc list --plain # List docs
knowns task list --plain # List tasks
knowns task <id> --plain # View task
knowns doc "<path>" --plain --smart # View doc
knowns search "query" --plain # Search docs/tasks
knowns retrieve "query" --json # Retrieve structured context pack (CLI fallback)
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.
- 2mo ago First seen · 40 lines · 465 tokens per session scan A 5b9213041655
knowns AGENTS.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository knowns-dev/knowns (251 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 465 tokens to every session, about $0.0019 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.
knowns AGENTS.md compared with instructions from other repositories
| Mod | Type | Stars | Last push | Licence | Scan | Tokens | Works with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| knowns AGENTS.mdknowns-dev/knowns | Instructions file | 251 | 1mo ago | MIT | A | 465 | Codex, OpenCode |
| vscode buildNext.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 9,719 | GitHub Copilot |
| next.js AGENTS.mdvercel/next.js | Instructions file | 143k | today | MIT | A | 7,461 | Codex, OpenCode |
| langchain AGENTS.mdlangchain-ai/langchain | Instructions file | 149k | today | MIT | A | 4,680 | Codex, OpenCode |
| vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 5,516 | GitHub Copilot |
| vscode copilot-instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 3,093 | GitHub Copilot |
| deepseek-harness AGENTS.mddeepseek-ai/deepseek-harness | Instructions file | 274k | 2d ago | MIT | A | 4,313 | Codex, OpenCode |