AGENTS.md Template for API schema governance

Overview

This AGENTS.md Template for API schema governance defines a formal operating manual for AI coding agents to govern API schemas, enabling both single-agent execution and multi-agent orchestration. It specifies roles, memory, source of truth, tool access, and escalation paths so teams can coordinate API schema decisions with predictable outcomes.

Direct answer: Use this template to establish a repeatable, auditable API schema governance workflow powered by AI coding agents, with clear handoffs and governance boundaries.

When to Use This AGENTS.md Template

• Launching an API-first project requiring formal schema governance and change impact tracking.
• Introducing AI coding agents to coordinate schema design, validation, and deployment across teams.
• Defining team roles, handoffs, and escalation paths for API lifecycle events.
• Establishing tool governance, secrets handling, and access control for production APIs.

Copyable AGENTS.md Template

# AGENTS.md

# Project context
- Project: API schema governance using AI coding agents
- Scope: Single-agent and multi-agent orchestration for API schema changes
- Success criteria: Conformance to API contracts, traceable decisions, secure tool usage

# Roles
- Planner: Defines the task, constraints, and acceptance criteria for the API schema work
- Implementer: Applies changes to schemas, adapters, and validation logic
- Validator: Checks schema conformance, data privacy, and backwards compatibility
- Reviewer: Verifies design decisions and ensures alignment with business goals
- Researcher: Gathers external API requirements, standards, and best practices
- Domain Specialist: Provides domain-specific constraints (data models, business rules)

# Supervisor / Orchestrator behavior
- Monitor progress, enforce memory and source-of-truth rules, and enforce tool access policies
- Trigger handoffs when criteria are met or when blockers arise
- Maintain a living decision log with references to sources of truth

# Handoff rules
- Handoff occurs from Planner to Implementer when task scope is defined
- Handoff from Implementer to Validator after implementation is complete
- Handoff from Validator to Reviewer for release readiness
- Handoff to Deployment Specialist for production rollout

# Context, memory, and source of truth
- All decisions must reference a primary schema source of truth (schema repo)
- Agents must store context in a shared memory store and annotate changes with rationale
- All API changes must be traceable to a ticket or issue

# Tool access and permission rules
- Use read/write access only to approved schemas and validation services
- Secrets must be read-only for runtime agents; write operations require approval
- No direct production changes without a defined approval gate

# Architecture rules
- Clear separation between schema design, validation, and deployment
- Centralized validation service validates against contracts before merge
- Logging and audit trail for every decision

# File structure rules
- Keep schemas under schemas/ with versioned folders
- Keep agent prompts, templates, and rules under agents/ rules/

# Data, API, or integration rules
- Only use sanctioned external services; all integrations must be documented and approved
- Do not bypass validation or security checks

# Validation rules
- Schema validity, backward compatibility checks, and data privacy checks
- End-to-end tests for API interactions

# Security rules
- Secrets must be encrypted at rest; access controlled via least privilege
- Monitor for anomalous tool usage and enforce rotation policies

# Testing rules
- Unit tests for validators, integration tests for schema changes
- Mock API responses for safety in CI

# Deployment rules
- Requires code review and automated tests before merge
- Rollback plan and health checks on production deployment

# Human review and escalation rules
- Escalate in case of conflicting requirements or blocked approvals
- Involve domain experts for ambiguous business rules

# Failure handling and rollback rules
- If validation fails, revert to last known-good schema and re-issue change request
- Automatically notify stakeholders on failure

# Things Agents must not do
- Do not run in production without approval, bypass tests, or mutate secrets
- Do not reuse memory across unrelated API work without scoping

Recommended Agent Operating Model

Roles and boundaries: The Planner defines tasks and constraints; Implementers realize changes; Validators enforce quality gates; Reviewers compare outcomes to business goals; Researchers gather requirements; Domain Specialists inject domain constraints. Escalation paths: if a handoff stalls, escalate to the Supervisor; if conflicts arise, involve Domain Specialists and a Product Owner. Decision boundaries: only approve changes that pass validation, security, and contract checks. This model supports multi-agent orchestration where a Planner may spin up parallel Implementers and Researchers while a Reviewer coordinates final sign-off.

Recommended Project Structure

project-root/
├── agents/
│   ├── planner/
│   ├── implementer/
│   ├── validator/
│   ├── reviewer/
│   ├── researcher/
│   └── domain-specialist/
├── schemas/
├── tools/
├── docs/
├── tests/
├── deployments/
└── configs/

Core Operating Principles

• Single source of truth: API schemas tracked in a central repository.
• Explicit handoffs with context and memory passed between agents.
• Guardrails: tool access, secrets handling, and approval gates are enforced.
• Auditability: every decision is traceable to a source and ticket.
• Security by default: minimize privileges and enforce least-privilege access.

Agent Handoff and Collaboration Rules

• Planner to Implementer: include task scope, acceptance criteria, and links to sources of truth.
• Implementer to Validator: include the changeset with validations performed.
• Validator to Reviewer: provide a release-readiness summary and risk notes.
• Reviewer to Deployment: approved changes are tagged for deployment with rollback plan.
• Researcher to Domain Specialist: deliver requirements and constraints for domain-specific rules.

Tool Governance and Permission Rules

• Commands must run through approved tooling with role-based access control.
• File edits are version-controlled; direct edits in production are prohibited.
• All API calls must be authenticated and logged; secrets are rotated periodically.
• Automatic approvals require passing tests and executive sign-off for high-risk changes.

Code Construction Rules

• Code must be modular, testable, and documented with inline rationale.
• Follow API schema contracts; avoid speculative changes without validation.
• Do not duplicate schema definitions; reuse existing contracts where possible.
• All changes must be traceable to a ticket and include acceptance criteria.

Security and Production Rules

• Enforce secure defaults for all API interactions; implement input validation and rate limiting.
• Secrets must be stored securely and never committed to code repos.
• Production changes require a rollback plan and health checks post-deploy.

Testing Checklist

• Unit tests for validators and schema transformations.
• Integration tests against mocked API endpoints and sample payloads.
• Contract tests to ensure schema compatibility with existing clients.
• End-to-end tests for critical API flows.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping validation or bypassing the source of truth.
• Unclear handoffs causing scope drift or duplicated work.
• Over-permissioned tool access or secret leakage.
• Ignoring backward-compatibility constraints during API changes.

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FAQ

What is the purpose of this AGENTS.md Template for API schema governance?

Provides a copyable, project-level operating manual for coordinating AI coding agents to govern API schemas via multi-agent orchestration and tool governance.

Who should use this template?

Engineering teams, platform teams, and product leaders implementing API-first governance with AI coding agents.

How are agent handoffs defined in this template?

Clear handoff rules specify when a task transitions from planner to implementer, from tester to reviewer, and from domain specialist to deployer, with context and memory passed.

What kind of validation rules are included?

Validation rules cover schema conformance, data privacy, change impact, and automated checks before deployment.

Where can I find the copyable AGENTS.md template block?

In the Copyable AGENTS.md Template section of the page; it can be pasted directly into an AGENTS.md file.