Local Development Overrides

agentsmesh.local.yaml is gitignored and lets you customize your local development setup without affecting the shared agentsmesh.yaml the rest of the team uses.

Creating the file

# Create your local overrides file
touch agentsmesh.local.yaml

agentsmesh init creates this file automatically and adds it to .gitignore.

Common patterns

Only generate for your tool

agentsmesh.local.yaml

targets:
  - claude-code   # I only use Claude Code

Running agentsmesh generate locally only writes .claude/. CI still generates for all configured targets.

Skip features you don’t need

agentsmesh.local.yaml

targets:
  - claude-code

features:
  - rules
  - commands
  - agents
  - skills
  - mcp
  # omitting: hooks, ignore, permissions

Speed up watch mode

agentsmesh.local.yaml

targets:
  - claude-code   # only regenerate one target during watch

With a single target, agentsmesh watch regenerates significantly faster.

What local overrides can and cannot do

Can do:

• Narrow targets to a subset of what agentsmesh.yaml defines
• Narrow features to a subset of what agentsmesh.yaml defines

Cannot do:

• Add targets not in agentsmesh.yaml
• Add features not in agentsmesh.yaml
• Override extends, collaboration, or conversions

This prevents local overrides from creating config that the rest of the team doesn’t know about.

Merge behavior

When AgentsMesh loads config, it first reads agentsmesh.yaml, then applies agentsmesh.local.yaml on top. The local file is strictly a narrowing override — it cannot expand scope.

Team onboarding note

When onboarding a new developer, suggest they create agentsmesh.local.yaml with just their tool:

echo "targets:\n  - claude-code" > agentsmesh.local.yaml

This keeps their local generation fast and focused while still letting CI generate for all targets.