AGENTS.md vs CLAUDE.md: Complete Tool Support Map (July 2026)

The landscape shifted in mid-2026. Amazon launched Kiro with its own steering file format. Continue.dev’s AGENTS.md support request was closed without merging. Cursor renamed its rules system. If you last checked which tools read which config files before June 2026, your mental model is out of date.

This guide maps the current state — which tools read AGENTS.md, which require CLAUDE.md, what Kiro’s steering files add, and the fastest way to configure a project that works across all three.

Quick Answer: Tool Support at a Glance (July 2026)

The practical setup for most teams: write project standards in AGENTS.md, add @AGENTS.md at the top of CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, and create a thin Kiro steering file that imports the same content.

What Changed Since May 2026

Three things shifted the tool support map after the last major update of the existing comparison guides:

1. Amazon Kiro launched (June 2026) Kiro introduced .kiro/steering/*.md files — a directory-based format distinct from both AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md. Kiro does not natively read a root-level AGENTS.md, but you can reference its content inside a steering file. See the Kiro section below.

2. Continue.dev AGENTS.md support was not merged GitHub issue #6716 proposed adding AGENTS.md detection to Continue.dev. The issue was closed without a corresponding pull request. As of July 2026, Continue.dev reads .continue/rules/ only. There is no official timeline for AGENTS.md support.

3. Cursor project rules replaced .cursorrules Cursor’s legacy .cursorrules file still works, but the recommended path is now Project Rules (.cursor/rules/), which supports more granular scoping. AGENTS.md is still read alongside Project Rules.

AGENTS.md: What It Covers in 2026

AGENTS.md is an open standard stewarded by the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation. It started as a collaboration between Sourcegraph, OpenAI, Google, Cursor, and Factory, and has been adopted by over 60,000 repositories.

The format is plain Markdown. There is no schema, no required sections, no YAML frontmatter. Any tool that supports it reads it the same way: load the file from the project root and inject its content into the agent’s context.

# AGENTS.md

## Project Overview
TypeScript monorepo, Next.js frontend, Fastify API.

## Coding Standards
- Use named exports, not default exports
- Error messages in English, UI strings in i18n files
- No `any` types without a comment explaining why

## Commands
- pnpm dev — full stack dev server
- pnpm test — Vitest + Playwright
- pnpm typecheck — tsc --noEmit

## Boundaries
- Never modify files under generated/ directly
- Migration files are append-only

The strengths of AGENTS.md:

• Write once, works across 10+ tools: Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, Cline, Aider — all read it natively.
• No proprietary syntax: it is Markdown, version-controlled, and readable by any developer.
• Community standard: projects like n8n (178K stars), LangFlow (145K stars), and uv (66K stars) use it.

The limits:

• No path scoping (applies to the whole repo, not per-directory)
• No conditional rules based on context
• No Claude Code-specific features (auto memory, @import, claudeMdExcludes)

CLAUDE.md: What It Does That AGENTS.md Can’t

Claude Code does not read AGENTS.md directly. This was confirmed in the Anthropic May 2026 docs update. The file Claude Code reads is CLAUDE.md.

Why have a Claude-specific format at all? Because CLAUDE.md supports features that a universal standard cannot:

1. Hierarchical loading Claude Code merges CLAUDE.md files from multiple levels:

• ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md — global, applies everywhere
• /repo/CLAUDE.md — project-level
• /repo/src/CLAUDE.md — subdirectory, applies only when Claude is working in src/

This lets you keep project-wide conventions in the root file and technology-specific rules closer to the code.

2. The @import system You can compose CLAUDE.md from multiple files using the @ import syntax:

# CLAUDE.md

@AGENTS.md
@docs/architecture.md
@.claude/custom-commands.md

This is the cleanest way to share standards between Claude Code and other tools: write the shared content in AGENTS.md, import it into CLAUDE.md, and add Claude-specific sections after.

3. claudeMdExcludes In settings.json, you can tell Claude Code to ignore certain CLAUDE.md files in subdirectories:

{
  "claudeMdExcludes": ["vendor/**", "node_modules/**"]
}

4. Local-only overrides CLAUDE.md.local is gitignored by default. It lets individual developers add personal preferences without affecting the team’s shared config.

Kiro’s Steering Files: A New Format (July 2026)

Amazon Kiro, released in June 2026, introduced .kiro/steering/*.md — a directory of Markdown files that Kiro loads automatically. The format is similar to .clinerules/ in Cline: you can have multiple files, each focused on a specific aspect of the project.

.kiro/
  steering/
    coding-standards.md
    testing-requirements.md
    api-conventions.md

Each steering file is plain Markdown. Kiro reads all files in the directory and merges them into the agent’s context.

Does Kiro read AGENTS.md? Not natively. Kiro looks in .kiro/steering/ only. If you want Kiro to follow the same standards as your AGENTS.md, the cleanest approach is to reference the content explicitly:

# .kiro/steering/project-standards.md

## Standards
Follow the conventions in AGENTS.md at the project root.

## Additional Kiro-specific rules
- Always create a spec file in .kiro/specs/ before starting a new feature
- Run `kiro validate` before submitting a PR

Alternatively, for projects where Kiro is the primary tool, you can write the canonical standards in a steering file and reference them from AGENTS.md — the reverse direction.

Kiro’s spec-driven workflow Kiro adds a layer AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md don’t address: formal spec files. Before implementing a feature, Kiro creates .kiro/specs/<feature>/spec.md containing requirements, design, and tasks. This is a separate concern from project configuration — it is per-feature documentation, not standing instructions.

If your team wants both the cross-tool compatibility of AGENTS.md and Kiro’s spec workflow, run them in parallel: AGENTS.md for standards that apply everywhere, .kiro/steering/ for Kiro-specific behavior, and .kiro/specs/ for feature planning.

Continue.dev: AGENTS.md Support Not Yet Available

Continue.dev’s configuration lives in .continue/rules/ — a directory of Markdown files, similar to .clinerules/ and Kiro steering files.

A community request to add AGENTS.md detection (Issue #6716) proposed checking the project root for AGENTS.md after loading .continue/rules/. The proposed implementation was small (approximately 25 lines in core/rules/ruleColocation.ts), but the issue was closed without a merged pull request. As of July 2026, no official timeline has been announced.

For projects that use Continue.dev alongside other tools, the current approach is:

1. Keep standards in AGENTS.md for all other tools
2. Symlink or copy the content into a .continue/rules/standards.md file
3. Watch Issue #6716 for status updates

The @import Pattern: One Source of Truth

The most practical multi-tool setup:

repo/
  AGENTS.md              ← shared standards (Codex, Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini, Cline, Aider)
  CLAUDE.md              ← imports AGENTS.md, adds Claude-specific config
  .kiro/
    steering/
      standards.md       ← references AGENTS.md, adds Kiro-specific rules
  .continue/
    rules/
      standards.md       ← copy/symlink of AGENTS.md until native support ships

CLAUDE.md structure:

@AGENTS.md

## Claude-specific config

### Memory
Claude Code auto-memory is enabled. Memory files live in .claude/memory/.

### Allowed tools
Always use the Bash tool for shell commands. Prefer Read/Edit over cat/sed.

### Context
This project uses pnpm workspaces. The API is in packages/api/, frontend in packages/web/.

This setup means you maintain one file (AGENTS.md) for 90% of your standards, and thin tool-specific wrappers for the remaining 10%.

Decision Framework: Which File to Write First

If you use Claude Code as your primary tool: Start with CLAUDE.md. Add AGENTS.md if you also use Cursor, Copilot, or Codex. Use @AGENTS.md inside CLAUDE.md to avoid duplication.

If you use multiple tools on the same project: Start with AGENTS.md. It is the lowest common denominator that all major tools except Claude Code and Continue.dev read natively. Add CLAUDE.md as a thin wrapper.

If you use Kiro: Write standards in AGENTS.md for cross-tool compatibility, then create a .kiro/steering/standards.md that references the same content. Use Kiro specs (.kiro/specs/) separately for feature planning — they are not a replacement for project configuration.

If you use Continue.dev: Currently no AGENTS.md support. Maintain .continue/rules/ as a copy of your standards until native support ships.

FAQ

Does Claude Code ever read AGENTS.md automatically? No. Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md (and .claude/ directory files). The /init command creates a CLAUDE.md from repository context, and if an AGENTS.md exists in the repo, it may reference it — but it does not load AGENTS.md into context automatically.

Can I rename AGENTS.md to CLAUDE.md? You can symlink them (ln -s AGENTS.md CLAUDE.md), but a direct rename means other tools lose their native support. The @AGENTS.md import inside CLAUDE.md is the cleaner solution.

What is the difference between Kiro steering files and CLAUDE.md? Both are project instruction files, but they serve different tools and workflows. CLAUDE.md is Claude Code-specific with hierarchical loading and imports. Kiro steering files are Kiro-specific, directory-based, and tightly integrated with Kiro’s spec-driven development flow. Neither reads the other natively.

Is Amazon Q Developer worth configuring? Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins and paid subscriptions reach end of support on April 30, 2027, and new signups were closed May 15, 2026. It is not worth building a new configuration around it.

How often does the tool support landscape change? Quickly. Three major changes happened between May and July 2026 (Kiro launch, Continue.dev issue closed, Cursor project rules update). Check the official docs for any tool you rely on before publishing your configuration standards.

Related Reading

• AGENTS.md Complete Reference: Format, Examples, and Real-World Patterns
• CLAUDE.md Format: All Features and Syntax (2026)
• Cline AGENTS.md and .clinerules Integration
• Amazon Kiro IDE: Steering Files and Specs Complete Guide
• Does Claude Code Support AGENTS.md? Official Status

Keep Your AI Coding Secrets Out of the Repo

Whichever config format you use, your rule files will reference API endpoints, internal tools, and team conventions. Keep actual credentials separate. 1Password CLI’s op run injects secrets at runtime — nothing sensitive ever lands in AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or a Kiro steering file, and every access is logged.