Open Knowledge Format (OKF) vs AGENTS.md
The map lists them as complementary: sites and agents commonly implement both.
| Open Knowledge Format OKF | AGENTS.md | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifecycle step | 4 Read: Give me the content | 4 Read: Give me the content |
| Answers | How can an organization package durable, structured knowledge (schemas, metrics, playbooks, runbooks) so both humans and agents can read, produce, and trust it without a bespoke SDK? | What build, test, and convention instructions should a coding agent follow in this repository? |
| Governed by | Google Cloud open-source project; canonical repository is GoogleCloudPlatform/open-knowledge-format on GitHub (moved out of the GoogleCloudPlatform/knowledge-catalog monorepo in August 2026, which now carries only a frozen, unmaintained snapshot) | Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), a Linux Foundation project |
| Status (issuer's words) | "An open specification; contributions, alternative implementations, and adoption beyond Google products are all explicitly welcomed" | "An open format... regardless of which coding agent you use"; explicitly not proprietary to any one tool |
| Version | v0.2 (2026-08) | current site guidance (living document) (2026-09) |
| Form / transport | document format | well-known file |
| Found at | /okf/index.md | AGENTS.md |
| Implementation | shipping — Google Cloud (Knowledge Catalog and 4 sample bundles: GA4, Stack Overflow, Bitcoin, Acme Retail), OpenKnowledge (OKF linter plugin), and agenticweb.wiki (163-concept OKF v0.2 knowledge bundle at /okf/index.md) | multi-implementation — agents.md (site claims over 60,000 AGENTS.md files across open-source GitHub repositories, via a path:AGENTS.md NOT is:fork NOT is:archived code search) |
| Evidence | 4 verified | 2 reported, 1 verified |
| Primary use case | Serve readable content to agents | Serve readable content to agents |
| Last verified | 2026-10-23 (current) | 2026-10-23 (current) |
| Specification | https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/open-knowledge-format/blob/main/SPEC.md | https://agents.md |
When to use which
- Choose Open Knowledge Format when your question is “How can an organization package durable, structured knowledge (schemas, metrics, playbooks, runbooks) so both humans and agents can read, produce, and trust it without a bespoke SDK?” and you accept its maturity: status ""An open specification; contributions, alternative implementations, and adoption beyond Google products are all explicitly welcomed"", implementation shipping (Google Cloud (Knowledge Catalog and 4 sample bundles: GA4, Stack Overflow, Bitcoin, Acme Retail), OpenKnowledge (OKF linter plugin), and agenticweb.wiki (163-concept OKF v0.2 knowledge bundle at /okf/index.md)).
- Choose AGENTS.md when your question is “What build, test, and convention instructions should a coding agent follow in this repository?” and you accept its maturity: status ""An open format... regardless of which coding agent you use"; explicitly not proprietary to any one tool", implementation multi-implementation (agents.md (site claims over 60,000 AGENTS.md files across open-source GitHub repositories, via a path:AGENTS.md NOT is:fork NOT is:archived code search)).
Read the full articles
- Open Knowledge Format: How can an organization package durable, structured knowledge (schemas, metrics, playbooks, runbooks) so both humans and agents can read, produce, and trust it without a bespoke SDK?
- AGENTS.md: What build, test, and convention instructions should a coding agent follow in this repository?