Instructions
Persistent context the agent sees every session — project conventions, coding standards, always-on guidance
Extension Name Steering
Vendor Terms steering, steering files, AGENTS.md, team steering
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / FolderOrganization / Enterprise
Interfaces IDE, CLI
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Contextual guidance with inclusion modes controlling when steering loads; not enforced policy
Notes Four inclusion modes (always, fileMatch, manual, auto); AGENTS.md also supported; foundational steering files auto-generated via IDE; team steering distributed via MDM/Group Policy
Extension Name CLAUDE.md and Rules
Vendor Terms CLAUDE.md, CLAUDE.local.md, rules, @import syntax, auto memory, AGENTS.md
Scopes
Organization / EnterpriseUser / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / Folder
Interfaces terminal CLI, VS Code, Desktop, web, JetBrains
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Contextual guidance, not enforced configuration; compliance not guaranteed for vague or conflicting instructions
Notes Walks up directory tree with on-demand subdirectory loading; rules can be path-scoped; @import syntax with 5-hop recursive depth supports AGENTS.md; managed policy CLAUDE.md at OS-level paths cannot be excluded; auto memory is a complementary per-working-tree system
Extension Name Custom Instructions
Vendor Terms custom instructions, repository instructions, organization instructions, AGENTS.md, Copilot Memory
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / FolderOrganization / Enterprise
Interfaces GitHub.com, VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode, CLI, Copilot SDK
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Contextual guidance with precedence-based concatenation; not enforced policy
Notes Precedence from personal → path-specific → repo → agent → org; Copilot Memory (public preview) adds cross-agent persistent context with 28-day auto-expiry
Extension Name AGENTS.md Instructions
Vendor Terms AGENTS.md, AGENTS.override.md, custom instructions, agents.md standard
Scopes
User / HomeProject / Repo RootSubdirectory / Folder
Interfaces CLI, IDE extension, app
Availability current (explicit)
Trust Model Contextual guidance loaded at run start; more specific files override by concatenation order
Notes Discovery chain walks from global (~/.codex) to CWD checking override then standard per directory; combined size capped at 32 KiB; links to official agents.md cross-vendor standard