holocron/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/skills/instructions-author/references/target-mapping.md

source_keys

source_keys
apm-cli-0-28-0-experiments apm-docs-site claude-code-memory-docs github-copilot-custom-instructions-docs cursor-rules-docs

What each target receives

Verified against apm 0.28.0 and throwaway installs. Reached from SKILL.md Step 2 when the question is which target keeps which field. Source-file syntax is in references/schema.md.

Two output paths

apm install writes one native file per instruction into each target's rules directory. apm compile writes root context files that concatenate instruction bodies, grouped by applyTo. Treat install as the primary path for Claude Code and Copilot, and compile as the path for targets with no native instructions directory.

Install: deployed path and transform

Target	Deployed path	Transform
copilot	.github/instructions/<n>.instructions.md	Verbatim copy
claude	.claude/rules/<n>.md	applyTo becomes a paths: list; description dropped; no frontmatter at all without applyTo
cursor	.cursor/rules/<n>.mdc	applyTo becomes globs; description kept; no alwaysApply written
windsurf	.windsurf/rules/<n>.md	trigger: glob plus globs, or trigger: always_on; description dropped
kiro	.kiro/steering/<n>.md	inclusion: fileMatch plus fileMatchPattern, or inclusion: always; description dropped
antigravity	.agents/rules/<n>.md	trigger: glob plus globs, or no frontmatter; description dropped
grok-build	.grok/rules/<n>.instructions.md	Verbatim copy
codex, gemini, opencode and the rest	none	Reach instructions only through compile

Windsurf, Kiro, Antigravity and Cursor do not deploy at user scope.

Field survival

Field	Claude	Copilot	Cursor	Windsurf, Kiro, Antigravity	Compiled root file
applyTo	as paths	verbatim	as globs	as each target's glob key	grouping only
description	dropped	kept	kept	dropped	dropped
author, version	dropped	kept only because the file is verbatim	dropped	dropped	dropped

For Claude Code the body's first line or heading is the only descriptive text that survives, so the body must explain itself.

Ownership and overwrite

• Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro and Antigravity treat each deployed file as apm-owned: install replaces a hand-authored file at the same path without a prompt. Copilot skips an unmanaged file ("local files exist, not managed by APM") until apm install --force.
• Removing or renaming a source makes the next install delete the file it deployed.

Compile

• --target claude writes CLAUDE.md; Gemini writes GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md; every other target writes AGENTS.md.
• Compile skips instructions already deployed natively, for Claude, Copilot and Antigravity only. With rules populated, --target claude exits 0, prints "produced no output files" and writes nothing. --force-instructions (alias --no-dedup) overrides.
• Cursor, Windsurf, Kiro, Grok, Codex and OpenCode have no dedup: compile writes AGENTS.md that repeats rules the tool already loads natively.
• A compile with no instruction primitives exits 0.

Native format facts

• Claude Code reads .claude/rules/**/*.md recursively. paths is the only field it reads, as a list or a comma-separated string; other fields are ignored. A rule without paths loads at every launch. Frontmatter that fails to parse is ignored and the rule loads without paths.
• Copilot path-specific files need applyTo as a quoted comma-joined string; excludeAgent is the only other documented key. Repository-wide instructions are the separate .github/copilot-instructions.md.
• Cursor ignores a plain .md in .cursor/rules. A rule with only a description is "Apply Intelligently", not always-on.

Unverified

Cursor's handling of a YAML-list globs, Copilot's handling of unknown frontmatter keys, and runtime behaviour on Windsurf, Kiro and Antigravity. Say so rather than asserting any of them.