Three Markdown files boost coding agents: 26% smaller diffs, 27% faster runs
lmoroney · x · 2026-10-25
Tilde Thurium at Google Cloud outlines three files that improve coding agent performance: AGENTS.md (a README for agents covering setup and how to run tests), DESIGN.md (UI look-and-feel with colors/fonts as tokens), and SKILL.md (step-by-step recipes loaded only when needed).
A July study from the Agentic AI Foundation found that adding AGENTS.md on loosely defined tasks cut diff size by 26%, wall-clock time by 27%, and tokens by 25%, mostly by avoiding runs where the agent gets lost. Recommendation: keep it short, around 12 lines.
Security note: vet any skill you didn't write before using it, the same way you'd review a dependency.
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