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I’ve started including a `mission-statement.md` alongside my project-level `AGENTS.md`. It contains philosophical notes about the project: why it exists, what questions it exists to answer, what ‘good’ looks like, etc.

31/7/26, 10:41 am1 repost43 likes

Thomas Edwards

@mpeg2tom.bsky.social

31 July

The Laws of Robotics markdown: 1. **First Law:** No harm to humans, or inaction allowing harm. 2. **Second Law:** Obedience to human orders, unless conflicting with the First Law. 3. **Third Law:** Self-protection, unless conflicting with the First or Second Law.

Harry Roberts

@csswizardry.com

31 July

`AGENTS.md` is then told ‘where exact directions are unspecified or unclear, ensure the work aligns with `mission-statement.md`’ as a bit of a fallback/vibe-check. It’s not failsafe or bulletproof, but I have noticed it being invoked a few times recently and… it works!

Harry Roberts

@csswizardry.com

31 July

The mission statement should never include instruction or implementation detail—it should be a guiding principle. The end that the means work around.

Jonathan Stephens

@jonathanstephens.us

31 July

It's amazing how much all this has just reiterated the importance of things like Guiding Principles and Good Documentation—just took computers to need it for them to be implemented more emphatically. (Not a slight on you, really nice practice & guidance; a general observation across industry).

Harry Roberts

@csswizardry.com

31 July

Nah man I’m with you… 👎 ‘We should refactor our code because it will make developers more productive.’ 👍 ‘We should refactor our code because it will save token!’

Pelle Wessman

@voxpelli.com

31 July

I have been doing the same, adding a VISION-md and a ROADMAP-md in addition to AGENTS-md and README Covers macro level, micro level, present and future