Keep agent guidance in one root AGENTS.md (closes #31)

The canonical REPO_POLICIES.md now says that guidance for coding agents lives in one AGENTS.md at the repository root, never committed under a file or directory named after one agent tool and never split into separate memory files. This retires the in-repo memory rule that older vendored copies still carry.

AGENTS.md is added to the list of files allowed in the root, which would otherwise contradict the new rule. Both checklists carry the matching item.

Model: opus-5-5

TODO.md

@@ -21,6 +21,18 @@ fmt-check, and commit.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-04: `REPO_POLICIES.md` now states that guidance for coding agents
+  lives in one `AGENTS.md` at the repository root, never under a file or
+  directory named after one agent tool and never in separate memory files (issue
+  31). This retires the rule, still present in older vendored copies, that kept
+  agent memory as committed files under `.claude/memory/`. `AGENTS.md` joins the
+  list of files allowed in the root, and both checklists say so.
+- 2026-10-04: Rewrote the note under the canonical Go `make test` example in
+  `REPO_POLICIES.md` (issue 77), which still named the cache-busting build
+  argument that `--no-cache` replaced. It now says where Go's test result cache
+  can replay a pass: on a developer's machine, where the Makefile target runs,
+  and not in the `test` phase of the `Dockerfile`, whose base image and earlier
+  steps hold no result for the repo's tests.
 - 2026-10-04: The Makefile examples in the Go styleguide and the HTTP server
   conventions now fall back to `dev` when `git describe` prints nothing (outside
   a git checkout, or where git is missing or refuses the checkout), instead of

prompts/EXISTING_REPO_CHECKLIST.md

@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ with your task.
 - [ ] `LICENSE` file exists and matches the README
 - [ ] `REPO_POLICIES.md` exists and version date is current — fetch from
       `https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/prompts/REPO_POLICIES.md`
+- [ ] Guidance for coding agents, if the repo has any, is one `AGENTS.md` at the
+      root — never a file or directory named after one agent tool, such as
+      `CLAUDE.md` or `.claude/`, and never separate memory files. Move what any
+      such committed file says into `AGENTS.md` and delete it.
 - [ ] `.gitignore` is comprehensive (OS, editor, agent scratch, language
       artifacts, secrets) — fetch from
       `https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/.gitignore` if missing.

prompts/NEW_REPO_CHECKLIST.md

@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ Template files can be fetched from:
 - [ ] `LICENSE` file matching the chosen license
 - [ ] `REPO_POLICIES.md` — fetch from
       `https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/prompts/REPO_POLICIES.md`
+- [ ] Guidance for coding agents, if the repo has any, is one `AGENTS.md` at the
+      root — never a file or directory named after one agent tool, such as
+      `CLAUDE.md` or `.claude/`, and never separate memory files
 - [ ] `Dockerfile` and `.dockerignore` — fetch `.dockerignore` from
       `https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/raw/branch/main/.dockerignore`
     - Extend `.dockerignore` with the repo's own host-built artifacts, giving

prompts/REPO_POLICIES.md

@@ -317,17 +317,19 @@ style conventions are in separate documents:
     ```
 
     `-count=1` is required on both invocations: it defeats Go's test _result_
-    cache, so the target cannot report a pass it did not earn, and the rerun
-    reproduces a failure instead of replaying it. It leaves the build cache
-    alone, so it costs the runtime of the suite and no recompilation.
+    cache, so neither run can report a stored pass in place of running the
+    tests. It leaves the build cache alone, so it costs the runtime of the suite
+    and no recompilation.
 
-    Note that this is a second, independent cache, stacked below the Docker
-    layer cache that [issue #26](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/prompts/issues/26)
-    addresses. `CHECK_EPOCH` guarantees the `RUN make test` _step_ re-executes;
-    it does not guarantee `go test` inside that step does any work, because the
-    `GOCACHE` baked into earlier image layers survives into the re-executed
-    step. They are two separate defects requiring two separate fixes, and a fix
-    for one must not be recorded as covering the other.
+    That cache is Go's own, separate from Docker's layer cache. Go stores a
+    passing result in its cache directory (`GOCACHE`), and when the same tests
+    run again on unchanged code it prints that result, marked `(cached)`,
+    without running them. That matters on a developer's machine, where this
+    target runs and the directory lasts from one run to the next. The `test`
+    phase of the `Dockerfile` needs no `-count=1`: its base image holds no
+    result for this repo's tests and nothing before its `go test` step runs a
+    test, so there is nothing to replay. `--no-cache` (above) is what makes that
+    step run on an unchanged tree.
 
     Python example:
 
@@ -605,10 +607,10 @@ style conventions are in separate documents:
   settings.
 
 - Avoid putting files in the repo root unless necessary. Root should contain
-  only project-level config files (`README.md`, `Makefile`, `Dockerfile`,
-  `LICENSE`, `.gitignore`, `.editorconfig`, `REPO_POLICIES.md`, and
-  language-specific config). Everything else goes in a subdirectory. Canonical
-  subdirectory names:
+  only project-level config files (`README.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `Makefile`,
+  `Dockerfile`, `LICENSE`, `.gitignore`, `.editorconfig`, `REPO_POLICIES.md`,
+  and language-specific config). Everything else goes in a subdirectory.
+  Canonical subdirectory names:
     - `bin/` — executable scripts and tools
     - `cmd/` — Go command entrypoints; thin only: one `main.go` per binary whose
       body is a single call into `internal/` or `pkg/`, no project logic in
@@ -639,3 +641,7 @@ style conventions are in separate documents:
     - Go: `go.mod`, `go.sum`, `.golangci.yml`
     - JS: `package.json`, `yarn.lock`, `.prettierrc`, `.prettierignore`
     - Python: `pyproject.toml`
+
+- Guidance for coding agents lives in one `AGENTS.md` at the repository root. It
+  is never committed under a file or directory named after one agent tool, such
+  as `CLAUDE.md` or `.claude/`, and never split into separate memory files.