GoKawiilDeveloper shares custom agent.md file to curb messy LLM-generated code
A developer recounts a year of experimenting with LLM coding assistants, from unusable output in mid-2025 to functional but messy 'spaghetti code' by early 2026. After growing tired of repeatedly correcting the same style issues in agentic tools like Antigravity and Claude Code, they created a persistent instruction file called agent.md that encodes coding style preferences so the AI applies them automatically in every session.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
As coding agents become more capable, the bottleneck shifts from raw code generation to maintaining production-quality standards without constant human correction. Configuration files like agent.md point to an emerging practice of codifying team or personal style guides directly into AI tooling, potentially saving significant review time across projects.
- LLM coding quality improved significantly between mid-2025 and early 2026 but still required heavy manual style correction.
- Agentic IDEs allow iterative review, but developers had to repeat the same feedback across every new session.
- A shared agent.md file lets developers bake style preferences into the AI's prompt automatically, reducing repetitive corrections.
Clean Code" by Robert C. Martin — If you're writing an agent.md full of rules like "no magic numbers" and "explain yourself in comments," this is the classic that codified those instincts in the first place. It's a great reference for turning vague code-review reflexes into concrete guidelines you can hand to an LLM.
See Clean Code" by Robert C. Martin on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: fabiensanglard.net, 2026-08-23
Published there as: “My agent.md to improve LLM-assisted code quality”
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