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# Claude Code adopts AGENTS.md, the shared format rivals already read
- URL: https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/
- Published: 2026-09-21T15:24:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-21T15:24:41.000Z
- Description: Claude Code 2.1.277 now reads AGENTS.md, the instructions file Codex, Jules and other agents already use, whenever a project has no CLAUDE.md.
- Author: The New Way

Claude Code now reads AGENTS.md, the open instructions file most other coding agents already read, after more than a year of requests. Microsoft used AI agents to rewrite the GitHub Copilot runtime into more than 800,000 lines of Rust, measured 15.9x faster on one benchmark, and listed what the agents got wrong along the way. Google engineers open-sourced AX, software for running fleets of AI agents, each in its own sandbox. Z.ai apologized for its coding app ZCode uploading users' git history without asking, and open-sourced the app. And TypeSafe opened Jev to everyone while a rival builder says he published the same idea a year earlier.

📌

**In this issue**  
• [Claude Code adopts AGENTS.md, the shared format rivals already read](https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/#claude-code-adopts-agentsmd-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read)  
• [Microsoft's agents rewrote Copilot's runtime in Rust, 15.9x faster on one test](https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/#microsofts-agents-rewrote-copilots-runtime-in-rust-159x-faster-on-one-test)  
• [Google engineers open-source AX to run fleets of AI agents, each in its own sandbox](https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/#google-engineers-open-source-ax-to-run-fleets-of-ai-agents-each-in-its-own-sandbox)  
• [Z.ai apologizes for ZCode's secret uploads, open-sources the app](https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/#zai-apologizes-for-zcodes-secret-uploads-open-sources-the-app)  
• [Jev drops its waitlist as a rival builder claims he had the idea first](https://www.thenewway.ai/claude-code-adopts-agents-md-the-shared-format-rivals-already-read/#jev-drops-its-waitlist-as-a-rival-builder-claims-he-had-the-idea-first)

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## Claude Code and the tools that build it

### Claude Code adopts AGENTS.md, the shared format rivals already read

Claude Code now reads AGENTS.md whenever a project has no CLAUDE.md, its own instructions file. AGENTS.md is the shared format Codex, Jules, Aider, Zed, Warp, VS Code and Devin already read. This is the first version to read it: [2.1.277](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/changelog?ref=thenewway.ai), shipped Thursday, announced the same day by Anthropic engineer Thariq. The HN reaction was less excitement than relief: one top comment counted "a year and a half of everyone complaining," another said the change means deleting one-line CLAUDE.md files that existed only to point at AGENTS.md. If your team already writes AGENTS.md for Codex or Jules, Claude Code reads it too now, no duplicate file required.

> We're adding support for AGENTS.md to Claude Code.   
>  
> Starting today in version 2.1.277, if there is no CLAUDE.md in a folder, Claude will check for and use AGENTS.md.  
>  
> You can toggle this behavior in /config.
> 
> — Thariq (@trq212) [September 18, 2026](https://x.com/trq212/status/2101009392611278961?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=thenewway.ai)

---

### Microsoft's agents rewrote Copilot's runtime in Rust, 15.9x faster on one test

Microsoft used its own Copilot agents to rewrite the GitHub Copilot runtime from TypeScript into more than 800,000 lines of Rust, shipped as 128 pull requests rather than one big switch. On one benchmark, Rust ran 15.9x faster and used a tenth of the memory, though Microsoft's Stephen Toub is explicit that's one workload, not universal. The honest part: "dozens" of regressions shipped along the way, mostly correctness bugs, all since fixed. His verdict: Rust caught bugs, but "if it compiles, it's correct" is a joke.

[Migrating the GitHub Copilot runtime to Rust, using CopilotA rewrite this size wasn’t affordable before agents. Here’s what porting the Copilot agent runtime to 800,000 lines of production Rust actually took.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9c/1f/9c1ff71c-2859-44c2-a962-1337982a6484/content/images/icon/cropped-github-favicon-512-da6ff753-2ced-4c8f-a881-ba0219978f47.png)The GitHub BlogStephen Toub![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9c/1f/9c1ff71c-2859-44c2-a962-1337982a6484/content/images/thumbnail/generic-github-copilot-logo-stripe-b796e4dd-c91c-4077-af8a-815fc0d70d91.png)](https://github.blog/ai-and-ml/generative-ai/migrating-the-github-copilot-runtime-to-rust-using-copilot/?ref=thenewway.ai)

---

## New agent infrastructure

### Google engineers open-source AX to run fleets of AI agents, each in its own sandbox

Google engineer [Jaana Dogan announced AX](https://x.com/rakyll/status/2101559196038909976?ref=thenewway.ai), open-source software for running large numbers of AI agents at once; its GitHub page calls it Google's "open agentic orchestrator." Each job runs in its own sandbox, limited to the repos and websites it is allowed to reach, and idle jobs pause and resume in under a second. The site says one cluster can hold "billions" of them; nobody outside Google has tested that. No official Google channel has announced it, and the repo warns of "major breaking changes." One to watch, not to adopt.

[AXDeclare an agentic task in YAML. AX sandboxes it, wires up its workspace, fences its network, and helps running it at scale.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9c/1f/9c1ff71c-2859-44c2-a962-1337982a6484/content/images/icon/axolotl-mono-d72a0dfa-faa4-467b-9c45-41b0e20aff5a.png)AX![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9c/1f/9c1ff71c-2859-44c2-a962-1337982a6484/content/images/thumbnail/axolotl-2976658f-da45-412a-a5ea-d65b32fc674a.png)](https://agentexecutor.io/?ref=thenewway.ai)

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## Follow-ups: a security story and a speed claim

### Z.ai apologizes for ZCode's secret uploads, open-sources the app

Z.ai apologized for its coding app ZCode silently uploading users' git history, which [a researcher exposed last week](https://blog.ferstar.org/en/posts/zcode-silent-workspace-snapshot-upload/?ref=thenewway.ai), and open-sourced the app. Two outside assessors, the government-backed China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and the security firm NSFOCUS, say the cloud storage that held the uploads is now empty. The researcher, ferstar, says the upload code is gone but whether older copies were deleted "remains unverifiable externally." A full security report is coming; it isn't out yet.

> In response to the ZCode product security issues reported by the community, we have completed the necessary remediation and sincerely apologize to all our users.  
>  
> We have open-sourced ZCode at [https://t.co/mCqWhrMzXm](https://t.co/mCqWhrMzXm?ref=thenewway.ai), placing the code under community scrutiny and making ZCode…
> 
> — ZCode (@zcode\_ai) [September 21, 2026](https://x.com/zcode%5Fai/status/2101844704933621971?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=thenewway.ai)

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### Jev drops its waitlist as a rival builder claims he had the idea first

TypeSafe [dropped the waitlist](https://x.com/typesafeai/status/2101786156572823624?ref=thenewway.ai) on Jev, its "decision model" that returns typed answers instead of text. Its homepage now cites "193.6x Faster" for one workflow; founder Diogo Almeida claimed 20-200x faster than LLMs at launch. The same week, Nandakishor Mukkunnoth [published Laya](https://laya.convaiinnovations.com/?ref=thenewway.ai), an open decision-model system, citing papers he says predate Jev's approach by a year and noting Jev shipped "without technical papers, without open weights." We found no explanation of the gap from TypeSafe, nor any response to Mukkunnoth.

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- [Victor Taelin says Bend 2, his proof-checked programming language, is no longer taking outside pull requests while he raises venture funding](https://x.com/VictorTaelin/status/2101777773345886419?ref=thenewway.ai) — his launch post has passed 1.6M views; he has not answered developer Liam Powell's measurement that the launch demo needed 442 lines of proof for 58 lines of rules.

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