diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 2661ad29d..ef5a09f16 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -30,10 +30,21 @@ Keep comments short and to the point:
 
 - Use tools to gather information rather than relying on assumptions
 - Examine existing code before making changes
+- Grep for existing plumbing before adding a mechanism, and before calling
+  something unavailable
 - Validate all changes before considering tasks complete
 - Ask clarifying questions only when truly necessary
 - When possible, call independent tools concurrently — it's faster
 
+### Client and Session Lifetimes
+
+- Provider clients are built per team load: once per session in `serve api`,
+  once at startup in `serve a2a` and `serve mcp`
+- Anything that must vary per conversation belongs in a request middleware,
+  not in client construction
+- The session ID is on the request context via
+  `httpclient.SessionIDFromContext`; `chatgptAuthMiddleware` shows the shape
+
 ## Validation Requirements
 
 Before marking work as complete:
@@ -48,6 +59,10 @@ Before marking work as complete:
 
 # Development Commands
 
+Canonical setup, commands and style guide:
+[the contributing guide](docs/community/contributing/index.md). The list below
+is a quick reference.
+
 ## Build and Development
 
 - `task build` — Build the application binary (outputs to `./bin/docker-agent`)