Report · marked 26 Aug 2026

kovidgoyal/kitty

Solid foundations, held back in a few specific places.

Python · 34,597 stars · 1,072 files · branch master

81 /100 A-

Instructions 18/27Whether the repo tells an agent how to behave before it starts guessing. Losing marks on agent instruction file and instruction quality.Setup 14/14Whether an agent can install the project and get it running without a human. Full marks.Verification loop 20/22Whether an agent can check its own work. This is the category that most decides whether agent output is trustworthy. Losing marks on tests exist.Context economy 13/20Whether the repo fits in a context window, or fights it. Losing marks on file sizes fit in context and repository weight.Navigability 10/10How quickly anything new can orient itself. Full marks.

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

Fix these first

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.

README as an entry point

Give the README an Install and a Usage heading with real commands under each. Agents pattern-match on those headings.

Agent instruction file

Rename or symlink to AGENTS.md so tools other than one vendor's can read it. Keeping Copilot instructions alongside it costs nothing.

The full marking

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

Instructions 18/27 B

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

✗Agent instruction file 8/12

Copilot instructions is present, but not the vendor-neutral AGENTS.md.

Rename or symlink to AGENTS.md so tools other than one vendor's can read it. Keeping Copilot instructions alongside it costs nothing.

✗Instruction quality 10/12

Specific enough that an agent can act on it.

Worth fixing: has no code blocks.

1,613 characters, a workable length

names the actual commands to run

uses headings, so an agent can skim it

✗README as an entry point 0/3

No README. This is the first file anything reads, human or machine.

Give the README an Install and a Usage heading with real commands under each. Agents pattern-match on those headings.

Setup 14/14 A+

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

✓Deterministic install 6/6

go.sum pins the dependency tree.

Found go.sum

✓Discoverable commands 6/6

Commands are declared where an agent will look for them.

Makefile

–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.

go.mod declares a Go version

–Reproducible environment n/a

Not applicable — a library doesn't need a container to be worked on.

Verification loop 20/22 A

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

✗Tests exist 6/8

66 test files against 848 source files.

e.g. kittens/broadcast/line_edit_test.go, kittens/broadcast/rc_test.go, kittens/choose_files/main_test.go

✓Test command is discoverable 7/7

An agent can find and run `make test`.

✓Continuous integration 4/4

3 GitHub Actions workflows define what "passing" means.

✓Lint and format rules 3/3

pyproject.toml encodes the house style.

–Static type checking n/a

Not applicable — the Go compiler type checks every build.

Context economy 13/20 B

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 32 patterns.

✗File sizes fit in context 0/6

20 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.

kitty/char-props-data.h — 911KB

tools/wcswidth/char-props-data.go — 747KB

kitty/gl-wrapper.h — 699KB

✗Repository weight 4/5

About 71.0MB 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 kovidgoyal/kitty

# AGENTS.md

If you live in the terminal, kitty is made for you! Cross-platform, fast, feature-rich, GPU based.

## Setup

```
go mod download
```

## Commands

```
make test               # run the test suite, must pass before any commit
make clean
make debug
make debug-event-loop
make asan
make profile
```

## Layout

- `kitty/`       249 source files
- `tools/`       226 source files
- `kittens/`     175 source files
- `glfw/`        67 source files
- `3rdparty/`    55 source files
- `kitty_tests/` 38 source files

## Conventions

- Tests live alongside the code they cover, following `kittens/broadcast/line_edit_test.go`.
- 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

- `kitty/char-props-data.h` is 911KB. 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/kovidgoyal/kitty.md

Show the mark

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[![agent ready](https://agentreadme.com/badge/kovidgoyal/kitty.svg)](https://agentreadme.com/kovidgoyal/kitty)

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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