---
title: Contributing AI Artifacts
description: Guides for contributing agents, instructions, and prompts to hve-core
sidebar_position: 1
author: Microsoft
ms.date: 2026-02-06
ms.topic: overview
keywords:
  - contributing
  - agents
  - instructions
  - prompts
  - ai artifacts
estimated_reading_time: 2
---

Guidelines and standards for contributing AI artifacts to hve-core.

## Finding the Right Guide

Use this table to navigate to the appropriate guide based on what you want to contribute:

| I want to...                            | Start here                                                                                                      |
|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Report a bug or suggest an enhancement  | [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#reporting-bugs)               |
| Submit a code change                    | [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#your-first-code-contribution) |
| Improve general documentation           | [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#improving-the-documentation)  |
| Create or modify an agent               | [Custom Agents](custom-agents.md)                                                                               |
| Create or modify an instruction file    | [Instructions](instructions.md)                                                                                 |
| Create or modify a prompt               | [Prompts](prompts.md)                                                                                           |
| Create or modify a skill                | [Skills](skills.md)                                                                                             |
| Understand shared AI artifact standards | [Common Standards](ai-artifacts-common.md)                                                                      |
| Learn about the release process         | [Release Process](release-process.md)                                                                           |
| Check CI and review requirements        | [Branch Protection](branch-protection.md)                                                                       |
| See the project roadmap                 | [Roadmap](ROADMAP.md)                                                                                           |

## Contribution Guides

| Guide                                      | Description                                                                     |
|--------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Common Standards](ai-artifacts-common.md) | Shared conventions, quality gates, and rejection criteria for all contributions |
| [Custom Agents](custom-agents.md)          | How to create and submit new agent definitions                                  |
| [Instructions](instructions.md)            | How to create repository-specific coding guidelines                             |
| [Prompts](prompts.md)                      | How to create reusable prompt templates                                         |
| [Skills](skills.md)                        | How to create skill packages with scripts and documentation                     |
| [Release Process](release-process.md)      | Extension channels, maturity levels, and publishing workflow                    |

## Before You Start

1. Read the [Common Standards](ai-artifacts-common.md) first - it defines quality gates that apply to all artifact types
2. Check existing artifacts in `.github/` to avoid duplicating functionality
3. Review the [main Contributing Guide](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) for general contribution process

## Quick Links

* [Agents Directory](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/.github/agents/)
* [Instructions Directory](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/.github/instructions/)
* [Prompts Directory](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/.github/prompts/)
* [Skills Directory](https://github.com/microsoft/hve-core/blob/main/.github/skills/)

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