AGENTS.md Template for Secure API Design | AGENTS.md template

Overview

Direct answer: This AGENTS.md template provides operating context, guardrails, and orchestration patterns for secure API design using AI coding agents, supporting both single-agent and multi-agent workflows.

This page defines a copyable template that governs roles, handoffs, memory, tool access, and security governance for AI-driven API design efforts.

When to Use This AGENTS.md Template

• When building AI coding agents to design or modify secure APIs with strong authentication, authorization, and data handling controls.
• When you need formal handoffs between planner, implementer, reviewer, tester, researcher, security specialist, and domain expert to ensure security-by-design.
• When enforcing tool governance, secret handling, and production deployment guardrails in an orchestration pattern.
• When you want a reusable, project-level operating manual for secure API workflows with AI agents.

Copyable AGENTS.md Template

# AGENTS.md template for secure API design

Project Role: Security-focused API design for AI coding agents

Agent roster and responsibilities:
- Planner: defines API security objectives, openAPI constraints, and success criteria.
- Implementer: translates planner outputs into code, configs, and tests.
- Reviewer: checks security controls, compliance, and design correctness.
- Tester: runs unit/integration tests, security checks, and contract tests.
- Researcher: gathers current security requirements, threat models, and domain knowledge.
- Security Specialist: validates cryptography, secrets handling, and threat mitigations.
- Domain Specialist: provides security-domain context (data classification, regulatory needs).

Supervisor/Orchestrator behavior:
- The Orchestrator coordinates handoffs, enforces guardrails, and records decisions to the source of truth.
- It prompts agents, consolidates artifacts, and triggers escalations for risk or failure.

Handoff rules between agents:
- Handoff occurs when a clear artifact is produced (design spec, code, tests). Include context, inputs, constraints, acceptance criteria, and traceability.
- The receiving agent must acknowledge and provide status, blockers, and estimates before work continues.
- All handoffs are logged to the central memory and source of truth.

Context, memory, and source-of-truth rules:
- The API OpenAPI spec, security requirements, threat models, and policy documents are the single source of truth.
- Agents must reference the source of truth and avoid context drift.
- Memory is scoped to the current design cycle and is periodically purged after deployment.

Tool access and permission rules:
- Tools: code editor, API client, OpenAPI tooling, secrets vault, CI/CD interface. Access is role-based and token-scoped.
- Secrets must never be stored in code; use the vault with rotation.
- Production system access is prohibited unless explicitly approved via the orchestrator.

Architecture rules:
- Design for defense-in-depth, least privilege, fail-safe defaults, and clear API boundaries.
- OpenAPI-first design with explicit versioning and deprecation strategy.
- Logging, tracing, and error handling must be consistent and privacy-preserving.

File structure rules:
- Place API specs under specs/openapi.yaml and related contracts under docs/.
- Code goes under agents/implementer/ and workflows/secure-api-design/.
- Tests live under tests/ with unit, integration, and contract tests.

Data, API, or integration rules when relevant:
- Use environment-based configurations; never hard-code credentials.
- Validate inputs and outputs against schemas; enforce strict response shapes.
- All external calls must be auditable and reversible.

Validation rules:
- Agreement on acceptance criteria before execution; gate checks for security controls.
- Run linting, static analysis, and security checks before merging.
- All changes require a signed-off review from the Reviewer and Security Specialist.

Security rules:
- Enforce TLS in transit, encryption at rest, and strict secret management.
- Rotate credentials periodically; enforce least privilege for APIs.
- Implement input validation, CSP framing, and IP allowlists where applicable.

Testing rules:
- Unit tests cover API input/output contracts; integration tests cover end-to-end secure API workflows.
- Security tests verify threat models and dependency checks.
- Regression tests must run on every change with a clear pass/fail signal.

Deployment rules:
- CI/CD gates require passing tests, security checks, and approved reviews.
- Deploys must include canary or blue/green rollouts with monitoring.
- Rollback procedures must be automatic on failure signals.

Human review and escalation rules:
- Escalate any security risk or design violation to a human reviewer.
- All changes must be confirmed by the Security Specialist before production.

Failure handling and rollback rules:
- If a deployment fails, revert to the last known-good state and notify stakeholders.
- Preserve audit logs and binding evidence for incident reviews.

Things Agents must not do:
- Do not bypass security controls or secret vaults.
- Do not modify production APIs without orchestrator approval.
- Do not rely on ephemeral memory for critical decisions.
- Do not share secrets or PII in logs or outputs.

Recommended Agent Operating Model

Direct answer: This section defines roles, decision boundaries, and escalation for secure API design workflows with AI coding agents. The planner sets constraints; the implementer builds; the reviewer verifies; the security specialist certifies; the orchestrator coordinates and enforces handoffs. Escalation paths lead to human review for high-risk decisions.

Recommended Project Structure

project-root/
├── agents/
│   ├── planner/
│   ├── implementer/
│   ├── reviewer/
│   ├── tester/
│   ├── researcher/
│   └── security-specialist/
├── workflows/
│   └── secure-api-design/
├── specs/
│   └── openapi.yaml
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/
│   └── integration/
├── docs/
└── infra/

Core Operating Principles

• Operate with open, auditable decisions; document rationale in every handoff.
• Keep security at the center of design and execution.
• Reference the single source of truth for all decisions.
• Minimize context drift; pass complete artifacts at each handoff.

Agent Handoff and Collaboration Rules

• Planner to Implementer: include design spec, security constraints, acceptance criteria.
• Implementer to Reviewer: provide artifacts, code, tests, and evidence of security checks.
• Reviewer to Orchestrator: approve or request changes; log rationale.
• Researcher/Domain Specialist: supply domain context as needed for risk assessment.
• Tester to Orchestrator: report pass/fail and attach test coverage artifacts.

Tool Governance and Permission Rules

• Commands and edits to API code require the orchestrator’s approval gates.
• Secrets must be retrieved from a vault; never stored in memory beyond session scope.
• Production changes require explicit approval and staging verification before release.

Code Construction Rules

• Follow OpenAPI-first design; validate schemas against contracts.
• Code must be documented with inline comments explaining security decisions.
• All changes must pass unit, integration, and security checks before merging.

Security and Production Rules

• Enforce TLS, mTLS where applicable, and strong authentication with rotation.
• Implement input validation, rate limiting, and IP allowlists where applicable.
• Production changes require explicit approval and an incident-ready rollback plan.

Testing Checklist

• Unit tests cover API contracts and edge cases.
• Integration tests validate end-to-end secure API workflows.
• Security tests verify threat models and dependency checks.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Over-reliance on memory without validating against the source of truth.
• Skipping security checks in the design phase; enforce governance gates early.
• Inadequate handoffs leading to broken context and missed requirements.

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FAQ

What is the purpose of this AGENTS.md Template for Secure API Design?

To define a repeatable, auditable operating model for AI coding agents when designing or modifying APIs with strong security controls.

Who should use this AGENTS.md Template?

Developers, architects, and product teams implementing secure API workflows with AI agents.

How are tool access and secrets handled?

Access is controlled by the orchestrator; secrets are stored in a vault, rotated regularly, and never embedded in code.

What are the handoff rules between planner, implementer, and reviewer?

The planner produces a handoff payload with context and acceptance criteria; the implementer returns artifacts; the reviewer validates and approves.

What happens on failure or security incident?

Rollback to the last known-good state, escalate to human review, and trigger a security incident workflow; no production changes without approval.