Decoding the Configuration of AI Coding Agents: Insights from Claude Code Projects
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arXiv
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| Hauptverfasser: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866918520518868992 |
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| author | Santos, Helio Victor F. Costa, Vitor Montandon, Joao Eduardo Valente, Marco Tulio |
| author_facet | Santos, Helio Victor F. Costa, Vitor Montandon, Joao Eduardo Valente, Marco Tulio |
| contents | Agentic code assistants are a new generation of AI systems capable of performing end-to-end software engineering tasks. While these systems promise unprecedented productivity gains, their behavior and effectiveness depend heavily on configuration files that define architectural constraints, coding practices, and tool usage policies. However, little is known about the structure and content of these configuration artifacts. This paper presents an empirical study of the configuration ecosystem of Claude Code, one of the most widely used agentic coding systems. We collected and analyzed 328 configuration files from public Claude Code projects to identify (i) the software engineering concerns and practices they specify and (ii) how these concerns co-occur within individual files. The results highlight the importance of defining a wide range of concerns and practices in agent configuration files, with particular emphasis on specifying the architecture the agent should follow. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_09268 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Decoding the Configuration of AI Coding Agents: Insights from Claude Code Projects Santos, Helio Victor F. Costa, Vitor Montandon, Joao Eduardo Valente, Marco Tulio Software Engineering Agentic code assistants are a new generation of AI systems capable of performing end-to-end software engineering tasks. While these systems promise unprecedented productivity gains, their behavior and effectiveness depend heavily on configuration files that define architectural constraints, coding practices, and tool usage policies. However, little is known about the structure and content of these configuration artifacts. This paper presents an empirical study of the configuration ecosystem of Claude Code, one of the most widely used agentic coding systems. We collected and analyzed 328 configuration files from public Claude Code projects to identify (i) the software engineering concerns and practices they specify and (ii) how these concerns co-occur within individual files. The results highlight the importance of defining a wide range of concerns and practices in agent configuration files, with particular emphasis on specifying the architecture the agent should follow. |
| title | Decoding the Configuration of AI Coding Agents: Insights from Claude Code Projects |
| topic | Software Engineering |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.09268 |