diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2fb01fbb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# AGENTS.md
+
+Guidance for AI coding agents working in this repository.
+
+This file is a map, not a rulebook. The contributor documentation is the authority, and everything
+below points into it rather than restating it, so that the two cannot disagree.
+
+Read the [AI guidelines](Documentation/Contributing/ai-guidelines.md) first. Rook does not accept
+contributions that lack human oversight.
+
+## Where the rules live
+
+Read the relevant section of the
+[developer guide](Documentation/Contributing/development-flow.md) before making a change:
+
+| To find out how to | Read |
+| ------------------ | ---- |
+| build, test, and lint, and what CI enforces | [Checks that gate a pull request](Documentation/Contributing/development-flow.md#checks-that-gate-a-pull-request) |
+| change anything under `pkg/apis` | [Generated Code and CRDs](Documentation/Contributing/development-flow.md#generated-code-and-crds) |
+| write a commit message | [Commit structure](Documentation/Contributing/development-flow.md#commit-structure) |
+| fill in the pull request checklist | [the pull request template](.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md), which says what each item claims |
+| write tests | [Assertions](Documentation/Contributing/rook-test-framework.md#assertions) |
+
+Two of these are easy to miss. Building or testing with a bare `go` command does not necessarily
+match what CI runs, so use `make`. Changing a godoc comment under `pkg/apis` counts as changing the
+API, because those comments become the CRD descriptions.
+
+## Regardless of what else is read
+
+* Sign off every commit with `git commit -s`. A bot enforces the DCO.
+* Open pull requests against `master`, from a branch in a fork. Rebase onto upstream; never merge
+    upstream into a branch.
+* Opening a pull request non-interactively, such as by passing a body to `gh pr create`, skips the
+    template that GitHub would otherwise supply. Read
+    [the template](.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md) and fill in its checklist regardless.
+* Disclose in the pull request description how AI tools assisted with the change.
+* Commit messages and review comments are the contributor's own reasoning to explain and own. Do
+    not submit raw model output as either.
+* Discuss significant changes in an issue before writing code. Large AI-generated pull requests
+    without prior design discussion will be rejected.