Report · marked 25 Aug 2026
discourse/discourse
An agent can work here, but it will waste turns finding its footing.
Ruby · 47,731 stars · 24,469 files · branch main
62
/100
B
Instructions
14/27Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing. Losing marks on instruction quality and readme as an entry point.Setup
16/20Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human. Losing marks on environment config.Verification loop
17/25Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy. Losing marks on test command is discoverable and static type checking.Context economy
6/20Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it. Losing marks on no committed build output and file sizes fit in context.Navigability
10/10How quickly anything new can orient itself. Full marks.
Higher is better. Accent marks what is costing you most.
Fix these first
01
Test command is discoverable
Add a `test` script or a `test` target that runs the whole suite with no arguments. The convention is the interface — an agent tries `npm test` and `make test` before it tries reading your CI config.
02
Instruction quality
Worth fixing: it's under 200 characters, which is closer to a placeholder than instructions; it never states a build, test, or run command; has no headings to structure it; has no code blocks.
03
File sizes fit in context
A single file that fills the context window forces an agent to work from fragments, and it will confidently edit code it never saw. Splitting the worst offenders pays for itself immediately.
The full marking
Every deduction below names the file or setting it came from.
Instructions 14/27 C+
Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing.
✓Agent instruction file
12/12
AGENTS.md is present, which is the format the most tools read.
Also found: CLAUDE.md
✗Instruction quality
0/12
Present but too thin to change an agent's behavior.
Worth fixing: it's under 200 characters, which is closer to a placeholder than instructions; it never states a build, test, or run command; has no headings to structure it; has no code blocks.
✗README as an entry point
2/3
README exists but never explains how to get the thing running.
Give the README an Install and a Usage heading with real commands under each. Agents pattern-match on those headings.
Setup 16/20 A-
Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human.
✓Deterministic install
6/6
pnpm-lock.yaml pins the dependency tree.
Found pnpm-lock.yaml
✓Discoverable commands
6/6
Commands are declared where an agent will look for them.
package.json scripts (dev, lint, lint:fix, lint:css, lint:css:fix, lint:js…)
✗Environment config
0/4
Nothing documents the environment this needs. An agent will get a runtime error it can't diagnose.
Add a .env.example listing every variable with a safe placeholder value. It's the cheapest possible fix and it unblocks the whole first run.
✓Pinned runtime version
2/2
The language runtime version is pinned.
package.json engines.node >= 20
✓Reproducible environment
2/2
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json gives a known-good environment.
Verification loop 17/25 B
Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy.
✓Tests exist
8/8
6155 test files against 13867 source files.
e.g. app/controllers/test_requests_controller.rb, app/mailers/test_mailer.rb, frontend/asset-processor/add-theme-globals.test.mjs
✗Test command is discoverable
0/7
There's no obvious way to run the tests. Even if tests exist, an agent won't reliably find the entry point.
Add a `test` script or a `test` target that runs the whole suite with no arguments. The convention is the interface — an agent tries `npm test` and `make test` before it tries reading your CI config.
✓Continuous integration
4/4
19 GitHub Actions workflows define what "passing" means.
✓Lint and format rules
3/3
eslint.config.mjs encodes the house style.
✗Static type checking
2/3
Type checking is configured, but not in strict mode.
Turn on `"strict": true`. Type errors are the fastest feedback an agent gets, and non-strict mode silently discards most of them.
Context economy 6/20 D
Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it.
✗No committed build output
3/6
Generated output is committed: coverage/.
Add these to .gitignore and `git rm -r --cached` them. Generated files pollute search results, so an agent grepping for a function finds the compiled copy and edits the wrong file.
✓.gitignore hygiene
3/3
.gitignore covers 112 patterns.
✗File sizes fit in context
0/6
22 source files are over 100KB.
A single file that fills the context window forces an agent to work from fragments, and it will confidently edit code it never saw. Splitting the worst offenders pays for itself immediately.
plugins/discourse-graphviz/public/javascripts/viz-3.0.1.js — 2085KB
db/structure.sql — 668KB
script/import_scripts/socialcast/test/test_data.rb — 497KB
✗Repository weight
0/5
About 989MB checked out. Large enough that cloning and searching are both slow.
Large binaries and vendored trees slow every operation an agent performs. Git LFS or a separate assets repo keeps the working tree navigable.
Here is your AGENTS.md
Drafted from what is actually in this repository: the install
command from your lockfile, the commands you already declare, your real directory layout. Anything
marked TODO needs a person. Save it at the root as AGENTS.md.
# AGENTS.md A platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple. ## Setup ``` pnpm install ``` ## Commands ``` pnpm dev # run locally pnpm start # run the app pnpm build # produce a build pnpm lint # lint pnpm lint:fix pnpm lint:css pnpm lint:css:fix pnpm lint:js ``` ## Layout - `plugins/` 5389 source files - `frontend/` 2186 source files - `spec/` 2147 source files - `db/` 1788 source files - `app/` 1248 source files - `lib/` 733 source files ## Conventions - Tests live alongside the code they cover, following `app/controllers/test_requests_controller.rb`. - TypeScript is not in strict mode. Turning it on catches a whole class of mistakes before they run. - CI defines what passing means. See `.github/workflows/backport.yml`, and keep it green. - TODO: add the two or three conventions a newcomer always gets wrong here. ## Gotchas - `plugins/discourse-graphviz/public/javascripts/viz-3.0.1.js` is 2085KB. It will not fit comfortably in context, so read it in parts. --- Drafted by agentreadme.com from what is in this repository. Everything marked TODO needs a human. Check it in as AGENTS.md at the root.
Open the raw markdown
or
curl -o AGENTS.md agentreadme.com/draft/discourse/discourse.md
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Every deduction above names the file it came from, so this can be settled by looking. If a check missed something, that is a rule worth fixing.