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+# Agents Guide for Prometheus
+
+This document captures patterns and preferences observed from maintainer reviews
+of recently merged pull requests. Use it to align your contributions with what
+maintainers expect.
+
+---
+
+## PR Title Format
+
+Titles must follow `area: short description`, using a prefix that identifies the
+subsystem. Examples from merged PRs:
+
+```
+tsdb/wlog: optimize WAL watcher reads
+fix(PromQL): do not skip histogram buckets when trimming
+feat(agent): fix ST append; add compliance RW sender test
+chore: fix emptyStringTest issues from gocritic
+ci: add statuses write permission to prombench workflow
+docs: clarify that `lookback_delta` query parameter takes either a duration or number of seconds
+```
+
+Common area prefixes: `tsdb`, `tsdb/wlog`, `promql`, `discovery/<name>`, `agent`,
+`alerting`, `textparse`, `ui`, `build`, `ci`, `docs`, `chore`.
+
+For performance work, append `[PERF]` to the area segment or use the `perf(area):`
+convention.
+
+---
+
+## Commits
+
+- Each commit must compile and pass tests independently, except when one commit adds a test to expose a bug and then the next commit fixes the bug.
+- Keep commits small and focused. Do not bundle unrelated changes in one commit.
+- Sign off every commit with `git commit -s` to satisfy the DCO requirement.
+- Do not include unrelated local changes in the PR.
+
+---
+
+## Release Notes Block
+
+Every PR must include a `release-notes` fenced code block in the description.
+If there is no user-facing change, write `NONE`:
+
+````
+```release-notes
+NONE
+```
+````
+
+Otherwise use one of these prefixes, matching the CHANGELOG style:
+
+```
+[FEATURE]     new capability
+[ENHANCEMENT] improvement to existing behaviour
+[PERF]        performance improvement
+[BUGFIX]      bug fix
+[SECURITY]    security fix
+[CHANGE]      breaking or behavioural change
+```
+
+Example:
+````
+```release-notes
+[BUGFIX] PromQL: Do not skip histogram buckets in queries where histogram trimming is used.
+```
+````
+
+---
+
+## Tests
+
+- Bug fixes require a test that reproduces the bug.
+- New behaviour or exported API changes require unit or e2e tests.
+- Tests should attempt to mirror realistic data and/or behaviour.
+- Use only exported APIs in tests where possible — this keeps tests closer to
+  real library usage and simplifies review.
+
+---
+
+## Performance Work
+
+Maintainers take performance seriously. For any PERF PR:
+
+- Performance improvements require a benchmark that demonstrates the improvement.
+- Run benchmarks before and after the change using `go test -count=6 -benchmem -bench <directory changed in PR>`
+- Provide benchmark numbers in the PR body using `benchstat` output.
+- If a subset of benchmark results show a regression, address this or explain why the case is not important.
+- Reuse allocations in hot paths where possible (slices, buffers). 
+- When reusing buffers passed to interfaces, document that callers must copy
+  the contents and must not retain references.
+- Link to supporting analysis (Google Doc, issue, etc.) for complex changes.
+
+---
+
+## Code Style
+
+- Follow [Go Code Review Comments](https://go.dev/wiki/CodeReviewComments)
+  and the formatting/style section of
+  [Go: Best Practices for Production Environments](https://peter.bourgon.org/go-in-production/#formatting-and-style).
+- State your assumptions.
+- Interface contracts: when ownership or lifetime semantics (e.g. buffer reuse) are important,
+  document it at the interface definition, not just in the implementation.
+- All exposed objects must have a doc comment.
+- All comments must start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.
+- Run `make lint` before submitting. The project uses `golangci-lint` including
+  `gocritic` rules such as `emptyStringTest` — fix linter findings rather than
+  suppressing them with `//nolint` unless there is a clear false-positive.
+- Use `//nolint:linter1[,linter2,...]` sparingly; prefer fixing the code.
+
+---
+
+## Linking Issues
+
+Use GitHub closing keywords in the PR body so the linked issue closes
+automatically on merge:
+
+```
+Fixes #18243
+```
+
+---
+
+## Scope Discipline
+
+- Do not include unrelated changes in a PR; make a separate PR instead.
+- If a refactor is necessary to make a change, do those in separate commits.
+- If a PR is large, split it into preparatory and follow-up PRs and reference
+  them with "Part of #NNNN" or "Depends on #NNNN".
+
+---
+
+## Documentation Changes
+
+- Docs PRs are welcome for clarifying ambiguous parameter descriptions,
+  fixing Markdown formatting, and keeping the OpenAPI spec consistent with
+  the implementation.
+- When changing documented behaviour, update any relevant text in the docs/ directory.
+  Check whether the OpenAPI spec also needs updating.
+
+---
+
+## CI / Workflow Changes
+
+- Workflow files need the correct GitHub token permissions declared explicitly.
+  Missing permissions (e.g. `statuses: write`) cause silent 403 failures.
+
+---
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
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+@AGENTS.md