Research & models Oct 25, 2026

Trend · preprint, October 22

Agent instruction files cite dead paths; it's one snapshot

A single-author position paper samples the 452 most-starred public GitHub projects and finds that 48.67% of those 452 projects carry instruction files written for agents. In the median such file, 9.5% to 22% of referenced paths no longer exist. These instruction files sit in a project's root directory or .github folder and give AI agents context about the project. The author, Mohammad Mehdi Gholinejad, writes that among instruction files that reference project paths, the median file has 9.5% to 22% of paths that can't be found, with the range depending on how a reference is counted (arXiv 2610.31306, 2026-10-22). This is an exploratory snapshot from a single collection. The paper also proposes a governance method called OSTEON. The author states that OSTEON's effect wasn't measured and that the discussion of mechanisms is the author's opinion. Our read: a sizable share of the paths written in these instruction files no longer match the current code, so an agent following them may look in the wrong place.