Minimal AGENTS.md + Scoped Subdirectory Files: The Compliant-Context Architecture Reconciling Two Conflicting Research Findings

Addy Osmani·high signal

Two March 2026 findings appear contradictory — AGENTS.md empirically reduces runtime 28.64% (ICSE JAWs) while compliance collapses below 68% past 500 instructions (paddo.dev) — but both resolve to the same architectural prescription: a minimal root AGENTS.md under 200 lines with @imports to scoped subdirectory files loaded only when that subsystem is active. This keeps the active instruction count low (preserving compliance) while still delivering full context depth for the work in progress. The evidence base for this pattern is now empirical, not just practitioner intuition.