General Guidelines for working with Nx

When running tasks (for example build, lint, test, e2e, etc.), always prefer running the task through nx (i.e. nx run, nx run-many, nx affected) instead of using the underlying tooling directly
You have access to the Nx MCP server and its tools, use them to help the user
When answering questions about the repository, use the nx_workspace tool first to gain an understanding of the workspace architecture where applicable.
When working in individual projects, use the nx_project_details mcp tool to analyze and understand the specific project structure and dependencies
For questions around nx configuration, best practices or if you're unsure, use the nx_docs tool to get relevant, up-to-date docs. Always use this instead of assuming things about nx configuration
If the user needs help with an Nx configuration or project graph error, use the nx_workspace tool to get any errors
For Nx plugin best practices, check node_modules/@nx/<plugin>/PLUGIN.md. Not all plugins have this file - proceed without it if unavailable.

CopilotKit

AI agent framework with three layers: Frontend (React/Angular/Vanilla) → Runtime (Express/Hono) → Agent (LangGraph/CrewAI/BuiltIn/Custom), communicating via the AG-UI protocol (event-based SSE).

Essentials

Nx monorepo — always run tasks through nx (nx run, nx run-many, nx affected), never the underlying tooling directly.
Flat package structure — All packages live under packages/ with the @copilotkit/ scope. Some packages have v1/ and v2/ internal directories for backward compatibility, but they're a single published package.
Simplicity — prefer the simplest correct solution. For non-trivial changes, consider if there's a cleaner approach before committing.
Worktrees — always work in a git worktree for isolation. See Git & PRs for the full workflow.
Commit as you go — every meaningful unit of work gets its own commit, pushed immediately. Don't let untracked files accumulate across a session. Tests belong in the commit that introduces the code being tested. Full rules in Git & PRs.
Draft PR up front — the moment a new branch has one commit, push it and open a draft PR. Don't wait until "ready" — unmerged-and-unpushed work is invisible. Flip the PR from draft to ready (gh pr ready <pr#>) only when the developer says so. See Git & PRs.
Documentation lives in shell-docs — author CopilotKit docs in showcase/shell-docs/src/content/. The top-level docs/ path is only a symlink to showcase/shell-docs/; never recreate the old docs/content/docs/ tree for live documentation. AG-UI protocol docs are authored upstream in ag-ui-protocol/ag-ui, not directly in this repo. See Documentation.
Keep formatting-only churn out of feature PRs — never mix ineffectual formatting changes with real code/docs changes. This includes import reshuffling, line wrapping, parenthesis-only rewrites, or other mechanical formatter output. If code formatting needs to change, do it in a separate PR that contains only formatting changes.
PR tour artifacts for showcase/docs changes — before preparing a PR that touches showcase demos, showcase probes/fixtures, the dashboard matrix, or docs, read .claude/docs/pr-tour.md and follow it. At minimum, include a PR section that makes Loom review easy:
- Run npm --prefix showcase/scripts run pr-tour -- --base origin/main --head HEAD and use the output as the starting point.
- When the full branch contains broad or inherited showcase churn, scope the tour with --rows <comma-separated feature ids> so the PR body still gives a focused Loom path for the rows intentionally changed by the PR.
- Include the generated row-filtered dashboard link. The dashboard accepts ?rows=<comma-separated feature ids> and preserves the usual hash overlays, for example http://localhost:3002/?rows=tool-rendering-default-catchall,tool-rendering-custom-catchall#matrix:links,depth,health,parity.
- List dashboard rows, columns, and individual cells changed using the ordering from the showcase dashboard. Say explicitly when the diff is a whole row or whole column; otherwise list the individual cells.
- List local docs URLs changed, plus any shared snippet files that require checking generated/authored docs variants.
- Generate PR-tour videos with npm --prefix showcase/scripts run pr-tour-videos -- ... when local services needed for recording are available, embed them in the PR description itself with the commit SHA they were recorded from, and refresh them whenever a sufficiently major change lands after recording. GitHub embeds videos uploaded through the PR description editor as github.com/user-attachments/assets/...; raw release-asset .webm links and <video> HTML do not render inline, so use release assets only as a fallback and say so. Review videos must visibly exercise every relevant suggestion pill plus one non-pill manual prompt; prompt-limited recordings are only smoke/debug artifacts and must not be attached as the review tour. Otherwise include the deterministic --mode plan output and the exact blocker.
- If the script reports global or ambiguous showcase files, investigate and either refine the report manually in the PR body or improve the script in the same PR. Prefer deterministic reporting over hand inference.

Private Agent Instructions

Individual developers may optionally create a private-agents.md file at the repo root. This file is gitignored and not shared with the team -- it contains personal agent instructions, workflow overrides, or context that applies only to that developer's work. If private-agents.md exists, read it and follow its instructions (they take precedence over the defaults in this file where they conflict).

Internal Skills

The team maintains shared AI agent skills at CopilotKit/internal-skills. If installed as a Claude Code plugin, these skills are available automatically. Key skills relevant to this repo:

copilotkit-ui-theme — CopilotCloud visual design system (colors, typography, glass effects, blur circles). Use when building any UI that should look like an official CopilotKit product.
copilotkit-branding — Brand rules, logos, and visual identity guidelines.
copilotkit-dev-workflow — Internal dev workflow conventions for this monorepo.
cr-loop — Automated code review and fix loop.

If you need a skill and don't have the plugin installed, clone the repo and read the relevant skills/<name>/SKILL.md directly.

Documentation Editing

Before editing anything that looks like product docs, read Documentation and the local README for the docs area you are touching. The live docs source is showcase/shell-docs/; top-level docs/ is only a symlink there.

CopilotKit product docs live under showcase/shell-docs/src/content/:
- Guides, how-tos, and concepts: showcase/shell-docs/src/content/docs/
- API reference: showcase/shell-docs/src/content/reference/
- Shared MDX snippets: showcase/shell-docs/src/content/snippets/
- Framework overview pages: showcase/shell-docs/src/content/framework-overviews/
When adding or moving a guide page under showcase/shell-docs/src/content/docs/, update that section's meta.json so the page appears in navigation.
The v2 API reference under showcase/shell-docs/src/content/reference/{components,hooks,sdk}/ does not use meta.json; navigation is generated from page frontmatter. Only reference/v1/ uses meta.json.
For framework docs, check the framework's docs_mode in showcase/integrations/<slug>/manifest.yaml and confirm the docs folder with getDocsFolder() in showcase/shell-docs/src/lib/registry.ts.
For showcase-driven frameworks (docs_mode: generated), update the showcase source of truth: manifests, demos, feature coverage, source regions, registry inputs, shared/root MDX, and sparse framework overrides. Do not hand-edit generated files under showcase/shell-docs/src/data/frameworks/.
For authored frameworks (docs_mode: authored), edit showcase/shell-docs/src/content/docs/integrations/<docsFolder>/ and its meta.json.
For snippets, edit showcase/shell-docs/src/content/snippets/; snippets can feed root docs, authored framework pages, and showcase-driven framework pages.
AG-UI protocol docs are canonical upstream in ag-ui-protocol/ag-ui. The showcase/shell-docs/src/content/ag-ui/ tree is a downstream mirror; change AG-UI upstream first, then sync the mirror back.
Do not recreate docs/content/docs/. Top-level docs/ is only a symlink to shell-docs. The retired Next app no longer publishes to docs.copilotkit.ai. Historical content is available from the archive branch/tag, not from main.
To run shell-docs locally, follow showcase/shell-docs/README.md and use the shell-docs npm commands.

Reference (read when relevant to your task)

Architecture & Packages — V2/V1 package roles, request lifecycle, core concepts (AG-UI, ProxiedAgent, AgentRunner, tools, context, multi-agent)
Hook Development — checklist for creating new hooks (docs, tests, JSDoc)
Workflow & Process — when to plan, when to fix autonomously, verification, self-improvement loop, this should be your default mindset when working on any task
Git & PRs — worktree workflow, branching, creating PRs
Documentation — where to author docs (CopilotKit → shell-docs; AG-UI → upstream); docs/ is retired

9.9 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History