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steering file
also AI steering file or agent steering file or steering document
Definition of steering file
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: a persistent text file that supplies an AI coding assistant or agent with project context, conventions, constraints, or behavioral instructions that it should apply across relevant work sessions
- The team committed a steering file that tells every coding agent to run the security tests before opening a pull request.
- A path-specific steering document gave the assistant different rules when it edited the payments service.
Origin & history
Steering files existed in computing before generative AI, but Kiro popularized the name for persistent Markdown guidance used by AI coding agents in 2025. By 2026, AWS documentation and cross-tool projects used the phrase more broadly for repository or user-level instruction files that can be adapted to multiple coding assistants.
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Cite this entry
"Steering file." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/steering-file/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.