Re: [PATCH 4/4] AGENTS.md: make the human part of the design process

["Daniel P. Berrangé" <berrange@redhat.com>]

On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 09:52:51AM +0200, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> This came out of the experiment with the first version of the AGENTS.md
> file.  This addition improved the behavior of the agent from the very
> beginning.  The very first answer to the same prompt was "I'll orient
> in the codebase first, then we should talk about design choices before
> I write anything".
> 
> In fact, after thinking it pointed out from the start that this requires
> pre-arrangement and asked two questions (how to represent the pressure and
> temperature in the QOM properties, how much of the behavior to implement).
> Even with a single data point it seems worth trying.
> 
> When asked to commit autonomously, the LLM also clarified that it
> wouldn't add S-o-b trailers and that pre-arrangement was on me.
> It included "Message written by an AI and to be rewritten by hand; not
> for submission as is" in the commit message, a "handover notes"
> section about design choices that were made without the user input,
> and the umpteenth reminder that the work may only be posted if a
> maintainer has agreed beforehand to review them.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
> ---
>  AGENTS.md | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 19 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
> index 816ba7646c1..cb3e6087ee0 100644
> --- a/AGENTS.md
> +++ b/AGENTS.md
> @@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ QEMU's policy for AI-assisted work requires the human to develop in depth
>  familiarity with contributions and disclose use of agents to write parts
>  of the code.
>  
> +The golden rule: **The human should know the alternatives before
> +implementation. ASK before choosing for them**.

I'd suggest   "ASK instead of choosing for them"

> +
>  ### Human must demonstrate understanding
>  
>  Staying familiar with what's going on requires constant effort on part of
> @@ -72,6 +75,22 @@ In order to protect the project's scarcest resource, which is review time:
>  - You must **tell humans about these expectations** at handover.  Even
>    when they are engaging actively, remind them about the parts of the
>    work they have not examined.

With regards,
Daniel
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