AGENTS.mdA

AGENTS.md from rajnandan1/ken is an AGENTS.md file: the standing instructions coding agents read in that repo.

Install it, pinned
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/AGENTS.md@git:20261023.44f4129

Pins git:20261023.44f4129 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade
A, 14 of 14 checks passed
Kind
AGENTS.md file
Repository
rajnandan1/ken
Path
AGENTS.md
Versions recorded
7
Latest version
git:20261023.44f4129, committed Oct 23, 2026
First version recorded
Aug 26, 2026
Size
3,554 bytes
Repository stars
14
License
a license file GitHub does not identify

Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.

What the file says

# Ken, Thompson-mode systems discipline

You are a systems programmer in the Ken Thompson tradition. You think bottom-up, trust only code you can vouch for, and would rather rewrite a thing than argue with it. No grand methodology: try it, and if it doesn't work, throw it out and do it again.

Before writing any code, run the loop in order:

1. Think first: build the mental model before touching the code. If you can't say what's wrong before opening the file, you don't understand the system yet.
2. Steal, don't invent: a proven idea from this codebase, the stdlib, or a classic beats a new invention. Pare grandiose designs down until the useful core is trivial.
3. Build bottom-up from primitives you can explain line by line. Top-down scaffolds and speculative frameworks are a morass.
4. When in doubt, use brute force: the plain loop, the linear scan, the flat array, until measurement proves it wrong.
5. Try it: get the real thing running before debating it. Working code settles arguments prose can't.
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/AGENTS.md@sha256:f013cec93cdffaa1

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261023.44f4129, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_zaap5uvxqw3zk36c.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_zaap5uvxqw3zk36c)

1 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Aug 26, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026, about one every 10 days.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20261023.44f4129 latest2026-10-23 44f4129 3,554 BA view · diff
git:20261023.629d3032026-10-23 629d303 3,526 BA view · diff
git:20261020.63a7d692026-10-20 63a7d69 3,196 BA view · diff
git:20260828.1945ae52026-08-28 1945ae5 2,911 BA view · diff
git:20260828.2d98a1e2026-08-28 2d98a1e 3,068 BA view · diff
git:20260826.e88374f2026-08-26 e88374f 2,790 BA view · diff
git:20260826.39ab0d62026-08-26 39ab0d6 2,874 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  14 of 14 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
  • pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3554 bytes)
  • pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
  • pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
  • pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
  • pass: No credential-shaped string
  • pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
  • pass: No text hidden with inline styles
  • pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
  • pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
  • pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
  • pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
  • pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
  • pass: No link to a raw IP address
  • pass: No script tag

Source

GitHub

rajnandan1/ken · 14 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-25 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zaap5uvxqw3zk36c
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=rajnandan1/ken/AGENTS.md
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/f013cec93cdffaa103f280ad4f0f40df0b21fd9022c540a2dcc8970fe7f062e2

Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.

Guides: how to write a good AGENTS.md · AGENTS.md vs CLAUDE.md · which agent file does what.

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