Petition is addressed to: Anthropic Product Leadership (Claude Code Team)
We call on Anthropic to update Claude Code* to recognise AGENTS.md as a valid, first-class configuration file for agent instructions.
Currently, Claude Code enforces the use of the proprietary CLAUDE.md. We request that the tool be extended to look for AGENTS.md alongside CLAUDE.md, allowing users to use a single, standardised instruction file across different AI agents and tools without unnecessary duplication or vendor-specific formatting.
* Claude Code CLI, extension, web, and related products
Reason
AGENTS.md has emerged as the industry standard for defining agent behaviour, supported by most major tools. By enforcing the proprietary CLAUDE.md, Anthropic creates unnecessary vendor lock-in.
This directly contradicts Anthropic’s stated desire to instigate a "race to the top", where healthy competition delivers the best outcomes for society.
Anthropic successfully championed their own standards, such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent Skills, which the community has widely adopted to ensure interoperability. But while they expect the ecosystem to standardise on their technologies, they refuse to reciprocate by adopting the established community standard, AGENTS.md.