AGENTS.md Template for Enforcing Code Attribution in AI Coding Agents

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Mia (@MiaAI_lab) has published an AGENTS.md configuration template designed to instruct coding agents to preserve author credits, link to source repositories, and verify attributions before completing tasks.

Key points

  1. Mandates placing attribution prominently on the first screen of the README before installation steps.
  2. Requires explicit links to the author profile, repository, and commit hash.
  3. Replaces vague phrases such as 'informed by' or 'inspired by' with explicit authorship credit.
  4. Preserves all existing credits without allowing agents to overwrite them.
  5. Forces the agent to re-read modified files before reporting task completion to verify links and formatting.

Why it matters

Autonomous coding agents frequently pull code across repositories without maintaining proper attribution. Establishing standardized agent instruction files like AGENTS.md provides a practical method to safeguard open-source credit and license compliance during automated development workflows.

Analysis

As autonomous development tools become standard, missing provenance and obscured open-source credits present both ethical and legal challenges. By integrating concrete verification instructions directly into project repository rules, developers can ensure that agents handle external contributions with appropriate rigor.

Original post

Mia

@MiaAI_lab · 4 October 2026

Update your AGENTS.md to make attributions mandatory. It names the author, links their profile + repo and commit, puts the credit before the installation steps, and reads the files a second time before saying it's done. I'm using it from now on. t.co/XNgtNlmiwZ

232 likes20 replies119 bookmarks13.5k views

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More posts in the thread (2)
  1. @seree 🙏🏻🙏🏻
  2. @darrenahunter Good idea. Checking
Selected replies (5)
  • @darrenahunter @MiaAI_lab Smart move @MiaAI_lab any chance of adding an 'update' section and script option in your recipes Would be very helpful
  • @wrldsuksgo2mars @MiaAI_lab Lul the funniest thing that happened to me today is my agent decided it can’t look at @BrandonMusicKy code for his PRs for b12x FP8 EXL3 because it’s not an OSS friendly license since his spat with 0xSero. I guess those patches will never be merged to b12x if they are not
  • @0xWhiteMage @MiaAI_lab Great steps in the right direction. Add their accreditation in the repo title too, and you'll cover more!
  • @seree @MiaAI_lab Pure heart, cheers on you!
  • @SummertonXos @MiaAI_lab Oh this is good. Agents yeeting code with zero credit is poor

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Summary generated by AI (Gemini 3.8 Flash, 5 October 2026). It may contain errors – the original source is authoritative.

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