AGENTS.md Template for DevOps and CI CD automation agents

Overview

The AGENTS.md template is a project operating manual for DevOps and CI CD automation agents. It governs both single-agent workflows and multi-agent orchestration across build, test, deploy, monitor, and rollback tasks. This page provides a copyable AGENTS.md template and concrete operating rules you can paste into your project to establish a shared context for AI coding agents guiding CI CD pipelines.

When to Use This AGENTS.md Template

• When coordinating DevOps CI CD automation across multiple agents that handle planning, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• When you need explicit handoffs between agents to prevent context drift and ensure auditable decisions.
• When tool governance, secrets handling, and production safeguards must be codified in the operating context.
• When the workflow requires human review for critical changes or deployments to production environments.
• When you want a project-level operating manual that can be shared across teams and repositories.

Copyable AGENTS.md Template

# AGENTS.md

Project role: CI/CD Automation Platform for DevOps to coordinate build, test, deploy, monitor, and rollback using AI coding agents.

Agent roster and responsibilities:
- Planner: defines tasks, constraints, and handoff points; maintains the run context and success criteria.
- Implementer (Builder): implements pipeline steps, config files, and scripts; translates planner directives into executable work.
- Tester: runs unit/integration tests, verifies gates, and reports outcomes to the Planner and Reviewer.
- Reviewer: validates changes, approvals, and security checks before deployment to staging or production.
- Operator/Runner: executes deployments, monitors live systems, and triggers rollbacks if alarms fire.
- Researcher: surfaces data sources, runbooks, and heuristics to improve pipeline quality.
- Domain Specialist (Security/Compliance): ensures policy alignment, secrets handling, and audit logging.

Supervisor or orchestrator behavior:
- The Planner acts as the primary orchestrator, sequencing tasks and distributing work to Implementer, Tester, and Reviewer.
- The Orchestrator maintains context memory, validates tool access, and enforces memory and source-of-truth rules across runs.
- The Planner, Implementer, and Tester must update the shared context after each phase and log outcomes to the source of truth.

Handoff rules between agents:
- Handoff from Planner to Implementer occurs when task scope, inputs, and success criteria are defined.
- Handoff from Implementer to Tester occurs when pipelines/configs are ready for validation.
- Handoff from Tester to Reviewer occurs when tests pass or fail; Reviewer approves or requests changes.
- Handoff from Reviewer to Operator occurs when changes are approved and release gates are satisfied.
- Escalations to Human Review happen if security flags, policy violations, or critical deployment risks are detected.

Context, memory, and source-of-truth rules:
- All run context, decisions, and artifacts live in a central source-of-truth (Git repo, CI/CD config) with immutable history.
- Agents must read from and write to the shared memory/logs in the CI/CD platform and the repository.
- Do not rely on local ephemeral memory; persist to the central store on every milestone.

Tool access and permission rules:
- Implementer, Tester, and Operator may run builds, tests, and deployments only within approved environments.
- Secrets must be read from a secrets manager; never print secrets in logs.
- All API calls and commands require explicit approvals when touching production.

Architecture rules:
- Use a layered pipeline architecture with clear boundaries between planning, implementation, validation, and deployment.
- No direct cross-pipeline file edits outside the central repo; all changes go through a controlled PR workflow.

File structure rules:
- All pipeline definitions live under pipelines/
- Configs and scripts under configs/ and scripts/
- Documentation under docs/
- Secrets stored in secrets/
- Agents and runbooks under agents/

Data, API, or integration rules:
- All external calls go through well-defined APIs with rate limits and error handling.
- Use standard data formats (JSON/YAML) with schema validation.

Validation rules:
- Gate tests, static analysis, and security checks must pass before deployment.
- All changes must be peer-reviewed and signed off by security/compliance when required.

Security rules:
- Never print secrets or credentials in logs or stdout.
- Enforce least privilege for all tool access; rotate credentials periodically.
- Implement auditing and immutable logs for all actions.

Testing rules:
- Unit tests for individual steps; integration tests across stage gates; acceptance tests for end-to-end flows.
- Tests must be reproducible in CI environments.

Deployment rules:
- Deploy to staging first, observe for a defined window, then promote to production after approvals.
- Rollback procedures must be clearly defined and tested.

Human review and escalation rules:
- Critical changes require human review before production deployment.
- Escalate to on-call engineers for runtime incidents or outages.

Failure handling and rollback rules:
- On failure, trigger automated rollback to the last known-good state and notify stakeholders.
- Do not proceed with further steps until issue is resolved.

Things Agents must not do:
- Do not mutate production data directly without approval.
- Do not bypass security controls or secret management.
- Do not bypass manual reviews for high-risk changes.

Recommended Agent Operating Model

Roles, responsibilities, decision boundaries, and escalation paths are defined to balance automation and human oversight. The Planner coordinates tasks and decision gates, while Implementer translates plans into pipeline changes. The Reviewer and Domain Specialist verify safety and policy compliance. The Tester gates quality, and the Operator executes deployments with automatic monitoring and rollback. Escalations route to humans for high-risk decisions.

Recommended Project Structure

/.github/workflows            # CI/CD workflows (if using GitHub Actions)
/pipelines                   # Pipeline definitions and configs
/configs                     # Global configurations and environment files
/scripts                     # Helper scripts used by pipelines
/docs                        # Documentation and runbooks
/secrets                     # Secrets management (encrypted, not checked in)
/agents                      # Agent runbooks and role definitions
/tests                       # Unit and integration tests

Core Operating Principles

• Single source of truth for all pipeline definitions and runbooks.
• Explicit, auditable handoffs between agents to prevent context drift.
• Least privilege and secret management for all tool access.
• Human review for high-risk changes and production releases.
• Observability, logging, and deterministic decision making.

Agent Handoff and Collaboration Rules

• Planner to Implementer: provide objectives, inputs, and acceptance criteria.
• Implementer to Tester: expose pipeline definitions, configs, and test hooks.
• Tester to Reviewer: publish test results and risk flags.
• Reviewer to Operator: approve or request changes before deployment.
• Researcher and Domain Specialist collaborate to validate security and data handling concerns.

Tool Governance and Permission Rules

• Commands and API calls to CI/CD platforms must be authorized via the planner’s gates.
• Secrets must be retrieved from a centralized vault and masked in logs.
• Access to production environments requires explicit approvals and runbook verifications.
• Change requests must be traceable to the AGENTS.md template rules.

Code Construction Rules

• All pipeline changes are version-controlled and require PR reviews.
• Configs must validate against a schema before being applied.
• Scripts must be idempotent and auditable.

Security and Production Rules

• Enforce vault-backed secrets and rotation policies.
• Audit logs must capture who changed what and when.
• Limit blast radius; deploy using feature flags and canary releases where possible.

Testing Checklist

• Unit tests for individual steps; integration tests for the end-to-end flow.
• Security and compliance checks in CI; performance checks for deployment gates.
• Recovery tests for rollbacks and failover.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping formal handoffs and context propagation between agents.
• Storing secrets in logs or code repositories.
• Overlooking security reviews for production changes.
• Assuming single-agent suffices for multi-stage CI/CD tasks.

FAQ

What is the purpose of this AGENTS.md Template for DevOps and CI CD automation agents?

It provides a copyable template that defines roles, handoffs, tool governance, and security rules for a DevOps CI CD automation workflow, enabling smooth multi-agent orchestration.

Which roles should be included in the agent roster?

Common roles include Planner, Implementer, Tester, Reviewer, Operator, Researcher, and Domain Specialist to cover planning, execution, validation, deployment, data and security concerns.

How are handoffs enforced between agents?

Handoffs occur at defined gates: Planner to Implementer, Implementer to Tester, Tester to Reviewer, Reviewer to Operator, with escalation if a gate fails or security flags appear.

How is security managed in this AGENTS.md Template?

Secrets are retrieved from a vault, logs are redacted, and all production access requires approvals and proper runbooks; auditing is mandatory for changes.

What happens on a deployment failure?

The system triggers an automated rollback to the last good state and notifies stakeholders; further steps wait for issue resolution.

Can this template be adapted to other workflows?

Yes, the structure supports other CI CD or automation use cases by replacing the planner, handoffs, and tool integrations while preserving governance and safety rules.