Table of Contents
- The Problem
- Introducing ACS
- Progressive Disclosure
- The Manifest
- Permissions
- Compatibility
- Where It Stands
The Problem
If you've used Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or any AI coding
assistant in the last year, you've probably noticed something frustrating:
every tool wants its own config file.
Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md. Cursor reads .cursorrules. Copilot has
its own instructions format. Some teams write AGENTS.md. Others use
SKILL.md.
The result? You end up maintaining 3–4 overlapping files that all say
roughly the same thing — just in different formats, for different tools.
There has to be a better way.
Introducing ACS — Agentic Collaboration Standard
ACS is an open format that defines a single .agents/ folder for
agent-ready projects. Write your context, skills, and permissions once
— use them across any tool.
\
your-project/
└── .agents/
├── acs.yaml ← manifest
├── context/ ← what your project is
├── skills/ ← reusable task instructions
├── commands/ ← shortcuts agents can run
├── agents/ ← named subagent definitions
└── permissions/ ← what agents can/can't touch
\\
The Core Idea: Progressive Disclosure
Most agent configs dump everything into one giant file. ACS uses a
3-tier loading strategy:
Tier 1 — Always loaded (~50 tokens per skill): just the name and
description. The agent knows what skills exist without reading them.
Tier 2 — On activation: when a task matches a skill, the full
SKILL.md body loads.
Tier 3 — On demand: supporting files like references/, scripts/,
or assets/ load only when the skill instructions reference them.
This keeps your context window lean and fast, while still giving agents
everything they need when they need it.
A Real Example: the acs.yaml Manifest
\yaml
acs_version: "1.0"
project:
name: "my-app"
description: "Full-stack SaaS built with Next.js and Prisma"
layers:
context: true
skills: true
commands: true
agents: true
permissions: true
compatible_with: [claude-code, cursor, any]
\\
One file tells any compliant agent tool everything it needs to know
about your project's structure.
Permissions That Actually Work
Tired of agents touching files they shouldn't? ACS includes a
permissions/policy.yaml:
\yaml
deny:
read: [".env", ".env.*", "secrets/**"]
write: ["prisma/migrations/**"]
allow:
read: ["**"]
write: ["src/**", "app/**"]
\\
Simple, readable, and tool-agnostic.
100% Compatible With What You Already Use
ACS doesn't ask you to throw away your existing setup:
-
AGENTS.md → keep it alongside
.agents/ -
SKILL.md (agentskills.io) → copy directly to
.agents/skills/, zero changes -
CLAUDE.md → map content to
context/andskills/ - MCP → different layer entirely, they complement each other
Where It Stands Today
ACS v1.0 is a draft open standard. The spec, JSON schemas, reference
implementations in Python and TypeScript, and example projects are all
live on GitHub.
Intentionally out of v1.0: workflows, hooks, profiles, CLI tool — scoped
to v2.0 to keep the first version simple and adoptable.
If you work on an AI coding tool and want to add compatibility, open an
issue. If you adopt ACS in your project, add yourself to ADOPTERS.md.
The ecosystem is fragmented enough. Let's fix it together.
Explora la especificación oficial de ACS
jackby03
/
agentic-collaboration-standard
A unified open format for agent-ready projects across tools, teams, and platforms.
ACS — Agentic Collaboration Standard
ACS defines how projects describe themselves to AI agents through a single .agents/ folder that any ACS-compatible agent can read, regardless of which tool, IDE, or platform you use.
The problem
Every agentic tool invents its own configuration format. Teams end up juggling different files and paths across tools such as Cursor, Zed, Claude Code, Gemini, Codex, Kiro, Trae, Windsurf, JetBrains Junie, Coodo, GitHub Copilot, Roo Code, Antigravity, Firebase Studio, and others.
In practice, that fragmentation shows up in vendor-specific files and folders:
| Tool | Config file / path |
|---|---|
| Claude Code |
CLAUDE.md + .claude/
|
| Cursor |
.cursorrules or .cursor/rules/
|
| GitHub Copilot | .github/copilot-instructions.md |
| Codex (OpenAI) |
AGENTS.md + ~/.codex/config.toml
|
| Windsurf | .windsurfrules |
| Gemini CLI | GEMINI.md |
| Zed |
.zed/ (editor settings with AI context) |
| Kiro | .kiro/steering/ |
| JetBrains Junie | .junie/guidelines.md |
| Trae | .trae/rules/ |
| Aider |
.aider.conf.yml or CONVENTIONS.md
|
| AGENTS.md-based tools | AGENTS.md |
Note: this table is a compatibility landscape snapshot for context, not a normative ACS…
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