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AGENTS.md is a plain Markdown file that a coding agent loads at the start of every session. It is stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation, and Codex, Cursor, Copilot, VS Code, Zed, Aider and many others read it. It is the one agent surface that costs context in every session, so it stays short. decktalk init writes a ten-line AGENTS.md when the project has none. It never overwrites one that is already there, so a project with its own AGENTS.md keeps it.

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What DeckTalk writes

The generated file says four things and stops.
  • This folder is a DeckTalk project.
  • The four input files are script.md, decktalk.toml, cues.json and the deck page.
  • decktalk status --json is the first command to run, because it reports what the four files say, what is built and what is stale.
  • The skills are in .agents/skills/, and they hold the procedures.
Procedures do not belong in AGENTS.md. A procedure that is loaded in every session is paid for in every session, and the skills exist so that an agent loads a procedure only when it needs one. Keep AGENTS.md to orientation, and put the steps in a skill.

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Adding DeckTalk to an AGENTS.md you already have

Add the same four lines to your own file under a heading of their own, and leave the rest alone. The file is read as plain Markdown, so a heading and a short list are enough.

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Harnesses that read a different file

Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md rather than AGENTS.md. The usual arrangement is a CLAUDE.md whose whole content is a reference to AGENTS.md, so one file stays the source. Gemini CLI reads GEMINI.md by default and reads AGENTS.md when its context file setting names it. AGENTS.md also serves a harness that reads no skills at all. For that harness it is the only DeckTalk instruction in the session, which is why it names decktalk status --json rather than describing the pipeline.