diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
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+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ build-types/
 # AI files
 .gemini/
 .claude/
-AGENTS.md
 GEMINI.md
 CLAUDE.md
 
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
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+# AI Agent Instructions
+
+WordPress AI Experiments plugin — canonical WordPress plugin for testing AI capabilities.
+
+## References
+
+Read these before making changes:
+
+- [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) — setup, coding standards, naming conventions, PHPDoc rules, quality checks
+- [docs/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md](docs/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md) — creating experiments, plugin API, asset loading
+- [docs/ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md](docs/ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md) — plugin architecture
+- [docs/TESTING.md](docs/TESTING.md) — testing strategy
+- [docs/TESTING_REST_API.md](docs/TESTING_REST_API.md) — REST API testing
+- [docs/EXPERIMENT_LIFECYCLE.md](docs/EXPERIMENT_LIFECYCLE.md) — how experiments graduate toward core
+
+## Workflow
+
+- PHP-related npm scripts wrap `wp-env`; some JavaScript/tooling scripts call `wp-scripts`/`tsc` directly. Prefer `npm run` over direct `composer`, `vendor/bin`, or `wp-env` calls.
+- Run `npm run lint:php`, `npm run lint:php:stan`, `npm run lint:js`, and `npm run typecheck` before submitting PRs.
+- Use `npm run lint:php:fix` and `npm run lint:js:fix` to auto-fix.
+
+## Helping Contributors Get Started
+
+When a contributor asks for help getting started:
+
+1. Read the relevant doc from the references list based on their topic. If no topic is given, read `CONTRIBUTING.md` and walk them through setup, dev environment, and first experiment creation.
+2. Give a concise, actionable answer with exact commands.
+3. When asked to set up the project, run: `composer install`, `npm i`, `npm run build`, and `npm run test:e2e:env:start`. Run independent steps in parallel where possible.