The Pulse
Claude Code Adds AGENTS.md Support in v2.1.277
Claude Code v2.1.277 adds support for reading AGENTS.md when a project does not contain CLAUDE.md, with the behavior controlled through the Project instructions setting in /config.
AI.info Team ·
Anthropic added AGENTS.md support to Claude Code in version 2.1.277, giving the terminal coding tool a way to read a repository’s existing agent-instruction file when the project does not have a CLAUDE.md.
The release page records the version as released on “18 Sep 18:06,” without specifying a year. Its release note describes the change narrowly: when a project has no CLAUDE.md, Claude Code reads AGENTS.md instead. Users can change the behavior under the Project instructions setting in /config.
Added AGENTS.md support: in a project with no CLAUDE.md, Claude Code reads AGENTS.md instead; change it under “Project instructions” in /config (not yet on Bedrock, Vertex or Foundry)
— ashwin-ant, GitHub release author
Fallback for Projects Without CLAUDE.md
The update establishes AGENTS.md as a fallback rather than documenting a broader instruction-file precedence system. The release note does not specify rules for parent directories, subdirectories, .claude/CLAUDE.md, CLAUDE.local.md, or combinations of multiple instruction files.
That means the confirmed behavior is limited to projects with no CLAUDE.md. Projects that already contain a CLAUDE.md remain outside the specific fallback described in the release entry. The note also does not describe additional modes for loading both file types or for disabling AGENTS.md support altogether.
Setting Available Through /config
Claude Code users can adjust the behavior from the Project instructions setting in /config. The release entry identifies that location but does not list multiple instruction modes or explain a detailed loading order.
The setting gives teams that already use AGENTS.md a way to use their existing repository guidance with Claude Code. The documented behavior does not require those projects to rename the file or maintain a second copy solely for the tool, provided the project does not also contain a CLAUDE.md.
Provider Limitations
The release note says the support is not yet available on Bedrock, Vertex or Foundry. The limitation applies to the direct AGENTS.md support described in the release entry. The page does not provide further guidance about telemetry-disabled sessions, importing AGENTS.md from another file, or related memory documentation.
Users on one of the supported environments can use Claude Code v2.1.277 and review the Project instructions setting in /config. The confirmed fallback applies when the project has no CLAUDE.md; the release page does not establish a wider file-loading hierarchy.
Other Changes in v2.1.277
The same release includes several unrelated updates. It adds an environment variable for Claude apps gateways whose only egress is a forward proxy, along with optional static headers for gateway upstreams. It also improves background-task status messages and fixes cases in which claude -p and Agent SDK sessions could hang after an internal error.
Additional fixes cover malformed configuration values, plugin installation, search failures caused by exhausted system resources, Windows path handling, session resumption, and several crashes in interactive panels. Those changes are separate from AGENTS.md support, which is listed as the first item in the release’s change list.