# Your own rules for AI agents

Platform rules come from the mp CLI agent plugin. Project-specific instructions go in AGENTS.md in the application repository.

> Source: https://www.mainpath.ai/en/docs/ai-instructions/

MainPath conventions (start via `mp run-local`, generated files, git and pipelines) live in the agent plugin that `mp agent install` sets up for Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex. They apply to every project on the machine without files in `local-configuration`.

## What the plugin already requires

- Start applications with `mp run-local`
- Do not edit `.gitlab-ci.yml` or `env/*.generated.env` by hand
- Put custom values in `env/*.custom.env`
- No secrets in documentation, logs, commits, or chat replies
- Work in the app repository, not in `local-configuration`
- After a push, wait for the pipeline of **that** commit

Do not override these rules in generated files. `local-configuration` now holds editor settings only (`.vscode`, `.idea`).

## Project-specific rules

Describe your team's way of working in an `AGENTS.md` in the **application repository** (backend, app, or homepage), for example:

```markdown
## Git workflow

- Create a commit after every completed task and push it.
- Use Conventional Commits (feat, fix, chore, docs, refactor, test).
- Work on feature branches (`feat/…`, `fix/…`, `chore/…`) when the team wants that; otherwise on `main`.
```

Commit and push the file in that repository; it applies to everyone who clones the same code. Tool-specific additions belong in `.cursor/rules/` or `CLAUDE.md` of the same repository, not in `local-configuration`.

## Helpers around Git

`mp git auto-commit` stages, commits, and pushes in one step and works as an instruction in a rule. The pre-commit hook `mp git pre-commit check` from the MainPath Toolbox blocks commits to protected files, even if an agent changed them. What happens after a push is covered in [Git workflow and deployment]({{< relref "git-workflow" >}}).