Agent Differences
This guide is model-agnostic first, but a few differences matter in practice.
| Tool family | Shared instructions | Reusable workflows | Tools and integrations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codex and AGENTS-first tools | AGENTS.md | skills or local workflow bundles | MCP and local tools | Strong fit for repo-level shared instructions |
| Claude Code | CLAUDE.md plus shared docs | project memory, commands, hooks | MCP and hooks | Strong hook and subagent story |
| Gemini CLI | GEMINI.md or configured AGENTS.md | agent skills and extensions | MCP, extensions, remote agents | Often plan-oriented |
| GitHub Copilot | workspace instructions plus repo docs | custom workflows and agent features | IDE tools, MCP, repo systems | Often strongest inside GitHub workflows |
| Cursor | rules plus repo docs | reusable rules and agent flows | editor-native tooling and integrations | Often optimized for editor-centric usage |
How To Use This Page
Section titled “How To Use This Page”Use it as a translation layer, not as a ranking table. The most important thing is to map your workflow primitives:
- where shared instructions live
- how reusable workflows are packaged
- how tools are exposed
- how risky actions are approved
Once those are clear, switching tools becomes much easier.