> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agentgg.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Targeting

> How an agent decides whether to run on a repository, and which files inside it to review.

Two frontmatter fields decide what an agent scans. `precondition` decides whether the agent runs on this repository at all. `where` decides which files it reviews.

## The precondition gate

Omit `precondition` and the agent always runs. Set it with a `regex` check, a `prompt` check, or both.

| Form     | Runs                                                               | Queues the agent when                      |
| -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ |
| `regex`  | On disk. No model call.                                            | Any sub-check matches.                     |
| `prompt` | One call to a large language model (LLM). It sees the recon brief. | The model answers yes.                     |
| Both     | `regex` first                                                      | `regex` matches and the model answers yes. |

The `regex` check runs first and costs nothing. When an agent declares both and the `regex` check does not match, the agent skips before it reaches the LLM call.

### Regex sub-checks

Four sub-checks live under `precondition.regex`. Any one match queues the agent.

| Sub-check     | Queues the agent when                                               |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `extensions`  | A file with one of these extensions exists.                         |
| `files`       | A file matches one of these path globs.                             |
| `directories` | A directory matches one of these globs and holds at least one file. |
| `patterns`    | A `regex` matches a line, inside `in` and outside `notIn`.          |

Each `patterns` entry sets `regex`, an optional `label`, and optional `in` and `notIn` glob lists. An empty `in` list means any file. No official agent uses `directories` today, but the schema and the evaluator both support it.

```yaml theme={null}
precondition:
  regex:
    extensions:
      - swift
      - m
      - mm
  prompt: Run only if this project uses ios — look for it in the manifest (package.json / composer.json / go.mod / etc.) and in the code.
```

From `agentgg-agents/agents/mobile/ios-url-scheme.md`. The `regex` check queues the agent for any Swift or Objective-C project. The `prompt` check narrows further with an LLM call.

## The where scope

`where` sets the files an agent's tool session starts from. The agent can still read more files with its Read, Glob, and Grep tools.

| Key                | Selects                                                              |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `extensions`       | Files by extension. The main knob for most agents.                   |
| `filePatterns`     | Files by glob, directory, or exact path. Combined with `extensions`. |
| `excludePatterns`  | Globs the agent never touches. Added to the scan's `--exclude` list. |
| `preFilter`        | Anchors that narrow matched files to candidates. See below.          |
| `maxFilesPerBatch` | Candidate files per investigation session. Default 5.                |
| `maxTurnsPerBatch` | Tool-use turns allowed per session. Default 50.                      |

When both `extensions` and `filePatterns` are empty, the scope is every file in the repository, reviewed in batches.

## preFilter anchors

A `preFilter` entry narrows the matched files further. A file becomes a candidate only when at least one entry matches a line inside it. The matching line numbers and labels pass to the model as anchors.

| Form                     | Matches on                                            |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| `{ regex, label }`       | A per-line regex. Cheap. Blind to the parsed syntax.  |
| `{ semgrepRule, label }` | A named Semgrep rule. Matches the parsed syntax tree. |

## Semgrep rules as anchors

A `semgrepRule` value is a bare name, never a path and never a registry identifier. The CLI resolves the name in this order: first the directories passed to `--semgrep-rules`, then the catalog's own `semgrep-rules/` folder. It matches `<name>.yml` or `<name>.yaml` in the first directory that has one.

```yaml theme={null}
where:
  preFilter:
    - { semgrepRule: "http-endpoints", label: "HTTP request handler" }
```

From `agentgg-agents/agents/auth/missing-access-control-semgrep.md`. The name resolves to `agentgg-agents/semgrep-rules/http-endpoints.yml`, a rule that finds a route handler declared by file position instead of a path string, a pattern a per-line regex cannot express.

## A full example

```yaml theme={null}
precondition:
  regex:
    patterns:
      - regex: export\s+(async\s+function|const|function)\s+(GET|POST|PUT|PATCH|DELETE|HEAD|OPTIONS)\b
        in:
          - '**/app/**/route.{ts,tsx}'
          - '**/app/api/**/route.{ts,tsx}'
        label: App Router HTTP method export
  prompt: Run only if this project uses nextjs.
where:
  filePatterns:
    - '**/app/**/route.{ts,tsx}'
    - '**/app/api/**/route.{ts,tsx}'
  preFilter:
    - regex: export\s+(async\s+function|const|function)\s+(GET|POST|PUT|PATCH|DELETE|HEAD|OPTIONS)\b
      label: App Router HTTP method export
  maxFilesPerBatch: 5
  maxTurnsPerBatch: 30
```

From `agentgg-agents/agents/auth/js-nextjs-middleware-only-auth.md`, trimmed. The `precondition` queues the agent only for a Next.js project with an exported route handler. The `where` scope hands the agent those same route files, with the export line as its anchor.