Instructions.md

File-scoped custom instruction files for GitHub Copilot and VS Code, using applyTo patterns to target specific file types or tasks with tailored AI guidance. These markdown-based instruction files allow developers to provide context-specific guidance for AI coding assistants.

Instructions.md is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include AI Copilot, Coding Standards, Developer Workflow, GitHub Copilot, and VS Code.

The Instructions.md catalog on APIs.io includes 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

Instructions.md’s developer surface includes documentation and 1 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

17.3/100 emerging ▬ flat Agent 0/100 human only Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5

0 APIs

AI CopilotCoding StandardsDeveloper WorkflowGitHub CopilotVS Code

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5

Composite quality — 17.3/100 · emerging

Contract Quality 0.0 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 1.7 / 20

Commercial Clarity 0.0 / 20

Operational Transparency 0.0 / 13

Governance 8.8 / 12

Discoverability 6.8 / 10

Agent readiness — 0/100 · human only

Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 0 / 15

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/instructions-md: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Instructions.md API Rules

4 rules · 3 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 1

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Instructions.md Frontmatter Schema

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Resources

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

JSONSchema

JSONSchema

Source (apis.yml)

aid: instructions-md
name: Instructions.md
description: File-scoped custom instruction files for GitHub Copilot and VS Code, using applyTo patterns to target specific
  file types or tasks with tailored AI guidance. These markdown-based instruction files allow developers to provide context-specific
  guidance for AI coding assistants.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/instructions-md.png
tags:
- AI Copilot
- Coding Standards
- Developer Workflow
- GitHub Copilot
- VS Code
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/instructions-md/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-28'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis: []
common:
- type: Documentation
  url: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/custom-instructions
- type: JSONSchema
  url: json-schema/instructions-md-frontmatter-schema.json
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com