Overview

Refactor an instruction file (CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md). Every retained instruction competes for attention in the sessions that load it.

The file serves every agent and model that reads it, not only this session's. The filename does not say who reads it, since Claude Code reads AGENTS.md too. Each reader assembles its own system prompt, so a line that restates one reader's prompt can be the only copy for another. Audit each line against every reader.

Instructions

Use AskUserQuestion in Claude Code or request_user_input in Codex when available.

1. Pick the target and its readers. If the invocation names a file, use it. Otherwise discover candidate files using the reader platforms' loading rules in the references below, and ask only if the target remains ambiguous. Resolve the readers from the invocation and context; ask only when uncertain. Read one reference per reader platform, both when both read the file:

   • Claude models: references/claude-code.md for which files load and when, its guides, its system-prompt probe, and its demote destinations.
   • GPT models: references/codex.md for which files load and when, its guides, and its demote destinations.

   For a targeted change, the verdicts below cover only the lines it adds or touches: the rest of the file stays as it is, and anything noticed there is a follow-up.

2. Fetch the guides. Follow each loaded reference's guide-fetching instructions, for a one-line change too: a verdict without the guides rests on memory. Reuse current guidance already fetched in this conversation. Done when each page a reference lists has been fetched for each reader in this session.