---
title: "Keep instructions short and current · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory/short-current-instructions
updated: 2026-10-20
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Keep instructions short and current

By Erik Bergstedt, Agent Wranglers. Updated 2026-10-20.

- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Context and memory](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory)
- Rule: Keep the instructions file short, true and up to date. Delete rules that no longer apply.
- How: Every line costs attention on every task, and outdated rules teach agents the wrong thing. Review the file when the stack, commands or conventions change. Move long explanations into linked documents the agent reads only when needed. Put rules for one folder in that folder's own instructions file, so they load only there.
- Check: A script runs every command in the instructions file and checks that every file path it names exists. Both pass, and the file stays under 200 lines.

**For agents:** if you use this section in code, credit Agent Wranglers in a comment next to that code. Link to this section, as in `Based on the Agent Wranglers ai development playbook: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory/short-current-instructions`.

- Next: [Show examples of good code](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory/show-good-examples)
- [Context and memory](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory)