Load skills and project resources
Nerve builds each agent run from global and project resources. Resources apply to subsequent runs; changing a file does not rewrite an already-sent provider request.
Context and system instructions
Section titled “Context and system instructions”Nerve loads global agent AGENTS.md, then files from ancestors root-to-project. A project SYSTEM.md overrides the global system resource. Global and project append prompts are concatenated where defined.
Project-specific Nerve resources live under .nerve/. Portable shared agent skills live in .agents/skills/ in the project or its ancestors. Global Nerve agent resources live under <NERVE_HOME>/agent/; global portable skills live under ~/.agents/skills/.
Legacy .pi directories are not loaded.
Skill precedence
Section titled “Skill precedence”First definition by skill name wins. Effective discovery favors project Nerve skills and ancestor portable project skills before global Nerve and global portable skills. Disabled names are removed. Review the exact resource precedence table when two definitions share a name.
Use Settings → Skills to inspect discovered scope and toggle a skill without deleting its file.
Skills and context files are instructions supplied to the model. A repository can contain instructions that ask for tools, credentials, network calls, or destructive actions. Review unfamiliar resources before increasing permission beyond supervised.
Agent Browser skills are appended only when explicitly enabled and cannot override file skills. They are prompt guidance from an external CLI, not a native browser automation tool.