agentreadme

Report · marked 25 Aug 2026

expressjs/express

An agent can work here, but it will waste turns finding its footing.

JavaScript · 69,395 stars · 213 files · branch master

64 /100 B
Instructions 3/27Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing. Losing marks on agent instruction file and instruction quality.Setup 8/14Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human. Losing marks on deterministic install.Verification loop 22/25Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy. Losing marks on static type checking.Context economy 20/20Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it. Full marks.Navigability 8/10How quickly anything new can orient itself. Losing marks on written documentation.

Higher is better. Accent marks what is costing you most.

Fix these first

01
Agent instruction file
Add an AGENTS.md at the root: what the project is, how to install, how to run, how to test, and the two or three conventions a newcomer always gets wrong.
02
Instruction quality
Instructions earn their keep by naming exact commands. 'Run the tests with `pnpm test`' beats three paragraphs of philosophy.
03
Deterministic install
Commit the lockfile your package manager generates. Without it, an agent's install and your install are different builds, and 'works on my machine' becomes unfalsifiable.

The full marking

Every deduction below names the file or setting it came from.

Instructions 3/27 F

Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing.

✗Agent instruction file 0/12
None found. Every agent that opens this repo starts from zero.
Add an AGENTS.md at the root: what the project is, how to install, how to run, how to test, and the two or three conventions a newcomer always gets wrong.
Looked for AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, .cursorrules
✗Instruction quality 0/12
Nothing to judge, since there are no instructions.
Instructions earn their keep by naming exact commands. 'Run the tests with `pnpm test`' beats three paragraphs of philosophy.
✓README as an entry point 3/3
README has a clear getting-started section.
Setup 8/14 B-

Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human.

✗Deterministic install 0/6
No lockfile. An agent installing dependencies may not get what CI got.
Commit the lockfile your package manager generates. Without it, an agent's install and your install are different builds, and 'works on my machine' becomes unfalsifiable.
✓Discoverable commands 6/6
Commands are declared where an agent will look for them.
package.json scripts (lint, lint:fix, test, test-ci, test-cov, test-tap)
–Environment config n/a
Not applicable — this reads as a library, with no environment to configure.
✓Pinned runtime version 2/2
The language runtime version is pinned.
package.json engines.node >= 18
–Reproducible environment n/a
Not applicable — a library doesn't need a container to be worked on.
Verification loop 22/25 A

Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy.

✓Tests exist 8/8
112 test files against 141 source files.
e.g. test/Route.js, test/Router.js, test/acceptance/auth.js
✓Test command is discoverable 7/7
An agent can find and run `npm run test`.
✓Continuous integration 4/4
4 GitHub Actions workflows define what "passing" means.
✓Lint and format rules 3/3
.eslintrc.yml encodes the house style.
✗Static type checking 0/3
No static type checking.
A type checker gives an agent an error message instead of a runtime surprise. It's the second-fastest feedback loop after the compiler.
Context economy 20/20 A+

Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it.

✓No committed build output 6/6
No generated directories committed.
✓.gitignore hygiene 3/3
.gitignore covers 10 patterns.
✓File sizes fit in context 6/6
No source file is large enough to crowd out a context window.
✓Repository weight 5/5
About 9.9MB checked out, which is comfortable.

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 — drafted for expressjs/express 
# AGENTS.md

Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for node.

## Setup

```
npm install
```

## Commands

```
npm run test       # run the test suite, must pass before any commit
npm run lint       # lint
npm run lint:fix
npm run test-ci
npm run test-cov
npm run test-tap
```

## Layout

- `test/`     91 source files
- `examples/` 43 source files
- `lib/`      6 source files

## Conventions

- Tests live alongside the code they cover, following `test/Route.js`.
- CI defines what passing means. See `.github/workflows/ci.yml`, and keep it green.
- TODO: add the two or three conventions a newcomer always gets wrong here.

## Gotchas

- No lockfile is committed, so an install here may not match what CI produced.

---

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/expressjs/express.md

Show the mark

The badge re-checks daily, so it keeps up as the repository changes. Use mark again to force it now.

agent ready 64 out of 100

[![agent ready](https://agentreadme.com/badge/expressjs/express.svg)](https://agentreadme.com/expressjs/express)

Other JavaScript repositories, marked

react/react 71 B+ affaan-m/ECC 90 A trekhleb/javascript-algorithms 69 B Snailclimb/JavaGuide 53 C+ airbnb/javascript 54 C+ vercel/next.js 77 B+

All JavaScript repositories

Think this mark is wrong?

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.

Open an issue, already filled in