AGENTS.md is loaded hierarchically and injected as instructions for both the orchestrator and worker threads. More specific files override broader ones when they conflict.
A global file is loaded first from NAC_HOME ($NAC_HOME when set, otherwise $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nac, otherwise ~/.config/nac). Then project files are loaded from the git root (or the workspace if there is no .git) down to the session workspace, one directory at a time.
In each directory nac tries these names, in order, and uses the first non-empty file:
AGENTS.override.mdAGENTS.md- Any extra names in
[agents_md] fallback_filenamesfrom config.toml
Empty files are skipped. Combined UTF-8 size across loaded files is capped by [agents_md] max_bytes (default 4 MiB, minimum 1). Content past that cap is truncated.
The orchestrator receives the combined documents as a separate system message. Workers receive the same text appended to their system prompt. See Skills for skill discovery, which is independent of AGENTS.md.