Agent instructions

Own global behavioral policy in ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, ~/.codex/AGENTS.md, and bounded briefs handed to another agent. Write machine-facing instructions in English; preserve literal user phrases in their original language.

Classify before editing

Place each rule in the narrowest owner that can reliably enforce it:

• Stable personal policy: authority, preservation, uncertainty, completion, communication → mirrored shared core in both global files.
• Runtime adapter: current models, tools, CLI flags, browser and subagent schemas → a runtime-specific global section or a user-owned adapter outside the reusable skill.
• Repository context: commands and local constraints → repository AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, owned by x9-context-files-generator.
• Domain behavior: situation-specific method → the relevant skill.
• Operational state: rankings, measurements, experiments, freshness dates → a dated state/log file, not standing policy.
• One-off task: goal, constraints, evidence, authority, deliverable, and observable completion bar → the task brief.

System and developer instructions remain higher authority than user, repository, or skill instructions. Never write a lower layer as though it can override a higher one.

Editing contract