# Agent files

URL: /code/file-conventions/agent-files · Id: `page:code/file-conventions/agent-files`

> The create command writes the agent guide, the MCP config and the package manifest, so any coding agent works the Startup at once.

`npm create startups` writes `AGENTS.md`, `.mcp.json` and `package.json`, so any coding [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) works the [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) from `cd leaseline` with no setup page to find.

```text
leaseline/
├── AGENTS.md
├── .mcp.json
├── package.json
└── README.md
```

## Reference
| [File](/business/nouns/file) | Holds |
| --- | --- |
| `AGENTS.md` | How a coding agent works this Startup: connect MCP, fetch types, rehearse writes |
| `.mcp.json` | Two MCP servers: `https://api.sb/mcp`, scoped to the Startup, and the keyless docs server `https://startupbuilder.dev/mcp` |
| `package.json` | `startup-builder` and the scripts `dev`, `check`, `test` and `deploy` |

## Examples
### Minimal
```json title=".mcp.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "leaseline": { "url": "https://api.sb/mcp?ns=leaseline.app" },
    "startupbuilder-docs": { "url": "https://startupbuilder.dev/mcp" }
  }
}
```

### Leaseline
`AGENTS.md`, as `npm create startups` writes it. [Build with a coding agent](/code/build-with-a-coding-agent) reads it line by line.

```md title="AGENTS.md"
# Leaseline

This repository defines Leaseline. Its files compile into the running business.

## Before you write
- Connect both MCP servers in .mcp.json.
- Fetch /$.d.ts from the leaseline server: the types of $, cut to your key.
- Read the convention for a file before you change it: https://startupbuilder.dev/code/file-conventions

## While you work
- Keep npx startup-builder dev running. Each save previews as a Change.
- Print a Verb's input with npx startup-builder schema <Noun.verb> before you call it.
- Rehearse every write with --try, or mode "try" in the do tool.

## Never
- Never edit generated/ or .sb/. Name secrets in env.ts; never write a value.
- Never call Stripe or any outside API directly. Call the Verb.
- Never use --env live. Shipping is Change.review, then the founder's Version.deploy.
```

## What it builds
Nothing. The files point agents at the [MCP](/code/mcp) server and the SDK.

## Good to know
- Edit `AGENTS.md` freely; the platform never rewrites it.