2. Prepare a place for the project. — One Man Army

In this lesson

Codex already has your personal rules and selected add-ons. Now prepare a place for one specific idea. If your workspace is not set up yet, return to lesson 1.

What you will gain

Your project folder will contain four files. Codex will create them from a ready package and fill them in during your conversations.

File	What it will contain
`README.md`	What the project is and how to run it once the first version exists
`AGENTS.md`	Rules for work on this project and where its decisions are recorded
`docs/product.md`	Who you are building for, the problem you solve, and what the first version should do
`docs/plan.md`	Next stages, the current task, check results, and the next step

docs is a folder for project documents. This lesson’s AGENTS.md complements your personal rules from lesson 1; it does not replace them.

Open your own project

In Codex, add a project and choose a new empty folder. Name it so you know what you are working on, for example my-ideas. Open a new chat in it. Leave the folder from lesson 1 as a place for trials.

This is how the selected project looks above the message field. Notice the folder icon and name—yours should be the name of your own project.

The frame from an official OpenAI demonstration shows an already selected project. Before the first message, check that you are in the right place.

In the new chat paste:

Prompt for your agent

I am starting my own project. Check which folder we are working in, what it contains, and whether you read my personal Codex instructions. Confirm that this is the right place for a new project, not the folder from an earlier exercise or an existing application. If anything is wrong, explain the problem and wait. Do not delete anything. Do not create application code yet.

Add project files

Download · ZIP packageBasic project package — 4 filesAGENTS-project-minimum-en.zipDownload

Click “Download”. Attach the package to the new chat just as you attached the package in lesson 1. Do not unpack it yourself.

Prompt for your agent

Project name: [for example, My ideas].
I want to build: [for example, a simple page for saving ideas and finding them later].

The attachment is AGENTS-project-minimum-en.zip. Confirm that you can read the package; if you cannot see it, ask me to attach it again. Read my personal instructions and the current project files. Unpack the package into a separate helper folder and prepare its four files in the root folder of the right project: README.md, AGENTS.md, docs/product.md, and docs/plan.md. If any already exists, show the differences and wait for a decision instead of overwriting it. Do not replace the global AGENTS.md.

Write the confirmed name and general idea. In product.md, save it as a starting point and mark missing answers as questions. In plan.md, record these next stages: clarify the idea; decide how it will work and choose technology; design first screens and shared visual rules; build in small pieces with a demo; check everything and hand it over for use. The current task is clarifying the idea. Do not invent features, dates, or a finished architecture. In the project AGENTS.md, point to these files and say when they must be read and updated. README must contain confirmed information; add run commands only once they work.

Save newly created files, show them to me, and briefly explain each. Do not create a second plan, start coding, or publish the project. If there is no Git history, explain where you can create it and wait for my decision.

What you should see: four saved files with your project name, initial idea, and a plan for the next conversation. Blank fields are not completed decisions. If they remain, Codex should explain which answers it is waiting for.

On the left the agent gives links to saved files, and on the right the selected file opens. This is a data-work example; in your project, open plan.md this way.

Git keeps a history of changes in a project. It lets you compare versions and return to an earlier one. If Codex proposes creating it in the correct folder, you may ask it to do so. Sending the project to GitHub is a separate decision.

For a larger project you may need separate requirements, architecture, and verification documents. The extended package also contains the basic four files. Choose it with the agent to match the need; do not add it automatically after the basic package. The description of both sets is extra material, not a mandatory stop on this path.

Download · ZIP packageExtended project package — 9 filesAGENTS-project-extended-en.zipDownload

Check and start describing the idea

Stay in your project chat and paste:

Prompt for your agent

Check the prepared files without changing them. Point out my personal AGENTS.md and this project’s separate AGENTS.md. Open the project links and confirm that they point to existing files. Show where the idea description, one plan, and the current stage are. Explain which file you will update after agreeing a new requirement and which after completing a task. Point out missing answers. Do not treat an empty template as a completed project plan.

You can continue when: Codex can open the right files, point to one plan, and name the next task. From now on, decisions should go into those documents during the conversation—you do not have to copy them yourself.