Level 4 Practice: Persist Working Rules in AGENTS.md
About This Tutorial
This tutorial organizes the scope, deliverable, and completion checks for repository work delegated to Codex.
Repeating the same rules in every prompt creates omissions and drift. Level 4 persists the stack, edit boundaries, checks, and prohibitions as repository instructions.
What You Will Complete
You will produce AGENTS.md and scoped instructions. The goal is not the amount of work; it is a reproducible Level 4 delegation boundary and completion check.
Step 1: Set the Boundary
Before handing work to Codex, state the goal, scope, exclusions, and completion criteria. Adapt this prompt to your project.
Organize recurring working conditions in AGENTS.md. Avoid duplicating existing rules; provide concise links to detailed guidance, validation commands, and prohibited actions.Check: Continue only when Codex can restate the scope and unresolved questions before acting.
Step 2: Practice
- Document project context, read order, and primary commands in the root
AGENTS.md. - Add narrower
AGENTS.mdfiles only where a subdirectory needs scoped rules. - Start a fresh task and verify that Codex reports the applicable instructions.
Keep the scope stable and inspect the output or diff after each stage.
Step 3: Verify Completion
You are done when a new task follows the same boundaries and checks without repeating a long setup prompt.
Record the actions performed, supporting evidence, and anything not verified. Also record why work stopped when a condition was not met.
Troubleshooting
Codex exceeded the requested scope
Stop the task and inspect the diff. Add explicit owned files and exclusions to the prompt, then rerun only the approved scope.
Completion is difficult to judge
Replace vague criteria such as “implement it” with observable files, commands, pages, or review results.
Next Step
Continue to Level 5 to expand the delegation boundary by one step.
See the references for the external specifications and background sources used on this page.[1][2][3]