Reuse Project Instructions, Skills and Context

Put recurring rules where the project can keep them

You have repeated several requirements: use SOURCE.md, keep the project static, avoid extra services and check the button. An instruction file makes these expectations easier to carry into another task.

The official AGENTS.md guide explains how Codex reads project instructions. It can combine guidance from different applicable locations, with more specific project guidance affecting the task. For this course, use the supplied project-level AGENTS.md and ask Codex which instructions it loaded. You do not need to change global settings.

The starter's file describes a fictional static website, points to SOURCE.md and README.md, and keeps changes focused. You can open and read it like any other text file.

# Workshop practice expectations

- Use SOURCE.md for the fictional event facts.
- Keep this as plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
- Preserve the learning-exercise notice and unrelated work.
- Do not add external services or collect personal information.
- Check the relevant steps in README.md after behaviour changes.
- Report actual checks and anything left unverified.

This is an example you can compare with the existing file. Do not overwrite a real project's instructions just to copy a lesson. Read what is already there and agree changes with the project owner.

Separate durable facts from the current request

Keep event facts in SOURCE.md. Keep repeatable working rules in AGENTS.md. Put the specific next task in the chat. That separation makes updates easier: changing a date should not require hunting through several old conversations.

If you start a new chat, give it the current folder, relevant source files, known state and requested outcome. Ask it to inspect the files again. A previous conversation is useful history, but it does not prove the files still match the old state.

What skills and plugins add

The official skills and plugins guide describes a skill as a reusable workflow with instructions and supporting resources. A plugin is an installable package that can include skills and connected tools.

For example, a team could reuse a focused workflow for checking a small webpage against a source brief. A connection to a repository service would serve a different purpose: access to that service's data and actions. One is not automatically necessary for the other.

Codex can choose relevant skills or you can select them explicitly using its skill mention interface, including $ mentions where supported. Do not install a plugin just because a tutorial mentions it. Check its purpose, access and workspace approval. None is required for this starter page.

Save a task handoff

Before leaving a chat, record the state that the next one needs:

Summarise the current practice project for a later session.
Include the folder, changed files, completed tasks, source facts, checks actually run and any unresolved issues.
Identify the next small task. Do not claim the site is published or change any files in this step.

A useful handoff is specific enough that another session can verify it. "Everything is done" loses the details that matter. Your course workbook has a place to keep the brief and results together.