Re: AGENTS.md

On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 3:28 AM Yuri Khan <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 1:43 PM Eli Zaretskii <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Once again, it is well known that not all LLMs automatically read a
> > file by this name.
>
> Can we please apply the policy of using accurate terminology to the
> area of LLM-assisted development?
>

Not a bad idea. Below is a good start but needs wordsmithing and expansion;
e.g., Provider can be a SaaS not just a "software package."  The EU AI Act
has a set of definitions which could inform such definitions (
https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/article/3/) though a bit more
legalistic.

* LLM (Large Language Model): A collection of statistical data derived
> from a training corpus.
>

Plus: RHLF, alignment, censorship, quantization layers.

* Provider: A software package that accepts prompts, inferences the
> Model and returns responses, in a machine-readable format through a
> well-defined API.
>

Which may run locally or as a service under your control or not and which
may be accessible as a SaaS.

* Harness: A software package that combines prompts from the user’s
> request, the user’s configuration, the project, and the harness
> itself, sends them to the Provider, and exposes a set of tools so that
> the Agent can read and modify files and perform actions on the user’s
> behalf.
>

I don't think you can define a harness in terms of the agency it helps to
orchestrate.  Perhaps combine the agent and harness definitions if that's
how you think it is most useful.  The concept of "project" also must
consider that many people use these things not for writing code but
exploring and developing mathematical models, reviewing electrical
schematics and product data sheets, building presentations, writing
documents, etc.


> * Agent: The system as a whole, comprised of the Model, the Provider,
> and the Harness.
>
> Sean said he tested a commercial LLM; but the reading of AGENTS.md and
> relaying it to the LLM is the responsibility of the harness.
>

Perhaps AGENTS.md should also say:

@CONTRIBUTE

Since the Emacs standard is American English, "analyse" should be "analyze".