--- title: All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of... description: AI coding assistants each use different configuration files (CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .continue/config.json, etc.), forcing developers to duplicate... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/p56ntolui twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of documentation | daily.dev og:description: AI coding assistants each use different configuration files (CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .continue/config.json, etc.), forcing developers to duplicate... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/p56ntolui og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/p56NTOlui.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of documentation **[Rap Payne](https://daily.dev/sources/kuvetrsgg644rxazncrqy)** · [@rappayne](https://daily.dev/rappayne) · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary AI coding assistants each use different configuration files (CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .continue/config.json, etc.), forcing developers to duplicate instructions across multiple files. The solution is creating a single AI_INSTRUCTIONS.md file as the canonical source of truth, with small shim files for each tool that simply point to it. This file references other project documentation like README.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, and CODING-STANDARDS.md. When conventions need updating, only one file changes and all AI tools automatically pick up the modifications. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/p56ntolui) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/p56ntolui","headline":"All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of documentation","text":"Shared: All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of documentation","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/p56ntolui","datePublished":"2026-01-22T15:49:57.187Z","dateModified":"2026-01-22T15:50:35.262Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Rap Payne","url":"https://daily.dev/rappayne","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1122906?v=4","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":2570}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--OHB84bZF--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2010","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/FMq43Wjn2"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/kuvetrsgg644rxazncrqy","name":"Rap Payne"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rap Payne","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/kuvetrsgg644rxazncrqy"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"All AI Coding Assistants and humans can read ONE set of documentation"}]} ```