# AI Coding Tip 034 - Stop Hoarding Rules in Your AGENTS.md

DevFeed: [AI Coding Tip 034 - Stop Hoarding Rules in Your AGENTS.md](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/ai-coding-tip-034-stop-hoarding-rules-in-your-agents-md-18224.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://maximilianocontieri.com/ai-coding-tip-034-stop-hoarding-rules-in-your-agents-md>)

Author: Maxi Contieri

Published: 2026-08-28T18:10:58Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Maximiliano Contieri - Software Design](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/maximiliano-contieri-software-design.md>)

Topics: [ai-coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-coding.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coding.md>), [Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/code.md>)

Tags: [agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agents.md>), [ai-coding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-coding.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding.md>), [context](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/context.md>), [developer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer.md>), [how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/how-to.md>), [mcp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mcp.md>), [skills](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/skills.md>), [test](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/test.md>)

## AI overview

The article advises developers to regularly audit AGENTS.md files and skills, remove rules that no longer matter, and test whether instructions still improve agent performance. It highlights context bloat, stale skills, dead MCP servers, plugins, and hooks as ongoing maintenance costs.

## Source excerpt

TL;DR: Audit your AGENTS.md and skills on a schedule, or you keep paying context rent on rules the model has outgrown. Common Mistake ❌ Every time the AI does something wrong, you add a rule to stop