Understanding your AI markdown files - Part 1

AI instruction files in our codebases are becoming a chaotic mess. We either dump every rule into one massive repository file, or scatter vague markdown docs across the project hoping the AI figures it out. I am Sathiesh Veera, I am an AI Solutions architect and I build solutions that use AI. In this video, we talk about the different AI instruction files, their history and the purpose. We will cut through the noise to understand what files like CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and skill definitions actually do, how many of them are there, why they must not conflict, and how they shape our AI agent's behavior. Clearing up this confusion and understanding these files is an essential need for anyone working with the AI IDE tools. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:02 Instructions vs Config 03:00 Evolution of AI Instruction files 06:04 Efficiency of the files 06:42 Always vs OnDemand 07:28 Five Categories 09:21 Scopes 10:42 Overrides & Conflicts 13:34 Understand any repo #aifundamentals #claude #agents #githubcopilot #markdownfiles #TechnologyDebunk #aibestpractices