Quorum Terminal autoloads a small set of context files from your repository root so that agent context survives across sessions and reloads. Loading them automatically means your AI agents stay oriented to the project without you re-explaining it each time you start a terminal. These files live in the repo root, in your codebase, and are read locally — Quorum Terminal never receives your code, prompts, or usage.
What gets loaded
Quorum Terminal autoloads two instruction files from the repository root:
| File | What it is for |
|---|---|
AGENTS.md | Shared, tool-agnostic instructions every AI assistant should follow for this project |
CLAUDE.md | The Claude-specific companion, wired to AGENTS.md so Claude Code reads the same instructions |
Keep them in the repo root and they are picked up automatically — no configuration. Two companion files round out the convention: STRUCTURE.json (a machine-readable map of the codebase) and PROJECT_NOTES.md (decisions and context). Quorum Terminal does not inject those two automatically, but keeping them in the root and pointing to them from AGENTS.md keeps the whole picture in one place. See the dedicated AGENTS.md page for how that file is structured.
AGENTS.md and its companion
AGENTS.md is the source of truth: shared rules that apply to every assistant. CLAUDE.md is its companion — Quorum Terminal links it to AGENTS.md with an @AGENTS.md import line, so Claude Code reads the same shared instructions. Claude-specific notes belong in CLAUDE.md only when they do not apply to every assistant.
When you launch multiple AI terminals sharing one project folder, Quorum Terminal also maintains a managed coordination block inside AGENTS.md. It reminds agents to check git status --short before editing, own a narrow file set, avoid overwriting another agent's work, and summarize changed files before handing off. The block is fenced by markers, so re-running the setup updates that section in place and leaves the rest of your file untouched.
Tip: if
CLAUDE.mdalready importsAGENTS.md, Quorum Terminal leaves your existing content alone and only refreshes the managed section.
Context-file management currently applies to local projects. For remote projects opened over SSH it is not available yet — this part is still in progress.
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