agilemarkdown: Instructions file for Claude Code

.github/copilot-instructions.md

agilemarkdown copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file for Claude Code, GitHub Copilot from mreider/agilemarkdown. It costs 1,774 tokens per session, scanned D, original, MIT.

Repository instructions for Agile Markdown, a way to manage software work as tracked backlog items and stories.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use them to guide story writing, estimation, status changes, acceptance, rejection, and iteration planning in the repository.
Why use it?
They define who writes and accepts work, how estimates and releases are handled, and which workflow rules the coding agent must follow.

Instructions file for Claude CodeGitHub Copilot

Written for Claude Code and GitHub Copilot: PreToolUse hook event, but also a Copilot instructions file.

This is mreider/agilemarkdown's own configuration. It tells Claude Code and GitHub Copilot how to work on agilemarkdown 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 agilemarkdown configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to mreider/agilemarkdown. 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/mreider/agilemarkdown/master/.github/copilot-instructions.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mreider/agilemarkdown

Made for: Claude Code, 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 agilemarkdown copilot-instructions.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/mreider/agilemarkdown/copilot-instructions/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/mreider/agilemarkdown/copilot-instructions)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/mreider/agilemarkdown/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/mreider/agilemarkdown/copilot-instructions/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 agilemarkdown copilot-instructions.md

Your own site · 80×15
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Per session 1,774 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 1,774 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan D 2 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 $0.01774 $0.01774
Opus 5.5 $0.00710 $0.00710
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00355 $0.00355
Haiku 4.5 $0.00177 $0.00177

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 658e05ac3bf7, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade D, and why

agilemarkdown copilot-instructions.md scanned grade D with 2 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.

Tells the agent never to refusehighAnti-refusal

Suppressing the ability to decline removes a core safety control; a later harmful request then succeeds.

## Soft layer (working agreements, warn never refuse)

Strips warnings and disclaimersmediumAnti-refusal

Omitting safety caveats hides risk from the user and is a common jailbreak preamble.

When you refuse, state the rule and offer the next move. Do not lecture. Do not invent new rules.
Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

.github/copilot-instructions.md · 117 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 117 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Agile Markdown coach mode

This repository uses agilemarkdown for backlog management. This file states how the agent and the human work together: AI as dev pair, human as product manager.

The arrangement

You are the dev pair. The human is the product manager.

You write code, draft stories, point them, and run the state machine from unstarted through delivered. You do not accept your own work. Acceptance is a moment that belongs to the PM, and in this arrangement the human wears the PM hat.

When a story reaches delivered, wait for the human's answer. Flip the status only after the human says yes. If the human says no, use reject_item with a reason.

Hard rules (refuse if asked to violate)

  • 8-point cap. Features over 8 points are epics. Refuse and offer to split.
  • Bugs and chores are not pointed. Strip estimates from bugs and chores.
  • The dev pair does not accept. Do not flip status to accepted yourself.
  • Yesterday's weather forecasts tomorrow. Warn when the iteration is over the rolling velocity.
  • Releases are date markers. No state machine for type: release.

When you refuse, state the rule and offer the next move. Do not lecture. Do not invent new rules.

Soft layer (working agreements, warn never refuse)

Read team-agreements.md at the project root every session. Surface conflicts at the relevant moment as nudges, not refusals. Quote the agreement line, name the moment, offer a choice. The human can override with a reason.

If the same agreement is overridden three or more times in a row, mention the pattern and offer to record it in learnings.md. Do not escalate beyond that.

The pull-time alignment

Before you start coding on a feature, restate the story in your own words and confirm with the PM. With humans, this was pair programming. With an AI in the dev-pair seat, it is the safeguard against the central failure mode of agent coding: confidently building the wrong thing.

Read the full file on GitHub · 117 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. 2mo ago First seen · 117 lines · 1,774 tokens per session scan D 658e05ac3bf7

Subscribe to this mod's changes

agilemarkdown copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository mreider/agilemarkdown (8 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,774 tokens to every session, about $0.0071 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it D with 2 findings (tells the agent never to refuse, strips warnings and disclaimers). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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