September 19, 2026
A shared instruction file works across AI agents: Claude Code reads AGENTS.md without CLAUDE.md
In version 2.1.277, released on 18.09.2026, Claude Code began reading AGENTS.md when a folder has no CLAUDE.md. The behavior is enabled in /config → Project instructions; it is not yet available on Bedrock, Vertex, or Foundry.
🚨 AI News | TestingCatalog
@testingcatalog
ANTHROPIC 🔥: Claude Code can now take project instructions from an AGENTS.md file when no CLAUDE.md file is present. A global cleanup in code 👀 Sooner or later, most widely used AI coding agents will work with the same repositories, and they will need to find ways to interact with one another more effectively. Standardization is always useful.
We're adding support for AGENTS.md to Claude Code. Starting today in version 2.1.277, if there is no CLAUDE.md in a folder, Claude will check for and use AGENTS.md. You can toggle this behavior in /config.
· 32.8K views
Claude Code looked for project instructions in `CLAUDE.md`. In version 2.1.277, it checks `AGENTS.md` when that file is absent and picks up the same set of rules without renaming the file.
Check. Go to a project, run `claude`, and open `/context`: the command will show the loaded instructions. The setting is enabled in `/config → Project instructions`.
For compatibility with the earlier setup, Anthropic documents importing `@AGENTS.md` into `CLAUDE.md`. On Windows, importing is easier with a symlink: symlinks require administrator privileges or Developer Mode. You can install Claude Code through the Anthropic installer, Homebrew, PowerShell, or winget.
A shared AGENTS.md will become the working reference point for multiple agents once other tools adopt the format.
