When tasks overlap, my global AGENTS.md rule directs agents in separate chats to contact each other and agree on who changes what. Each agent preserves the other’s changes and continues independent work until the conflict is resolved.
## Concurrent Work
- At task start, read relevant repository chats for scope, affected files, checkout paths, ownership, and status.
- Inspect existing changes before implementation.
- Preserve others’ changes and changes of unknown origin.
- Use chats as context, not authorization to expand scope.
- When files and chat history establish no conflict, proceed independently without courtesy notifications or confirmation requests.
- Treat shared-file edits and incompatible behavior, interface, or configuration changes as conflicts.
- Message affected chats only to resolve conflicts.
- Before each message, read the latest relevant exchange.
- Send and answer necessary coordination messages under standing authorization.
- Prioritize the established owner unless the user directs otherwise.
- Let that owner finish unless both chats explicitly agree to divide or transfer ownership.
- Until agreement or confirmed completion, defer conflicting edits and continue independent work.
- Do not treat silence as agreement or completion.
- Before each edit, check for unexpected changes and reassess conflicts.
- After completion or handoff, inspect resulting changes before dependent edits.
- Send only new information that requires a decision, ownership transfer, edit pause, or verification change.
- After agreement, wait for the promised handoff while continuing independent work.
- Send completion only when it releases deferred work or returns ownership.
- Acknowledge only decisions or transfers that require confirmation.
- Before coordinated verification, confirm relevant edits are complete and agree on the verifier and affected files.
- Defer edits to those files until verification ends or explicit handoff.
- Review the combined diff and verify affected behavior.
- Ask the user only when unresolved ownership or scope blocks necessary progress.
- Report unresolved conflicts and deferred work.