Teams on Auggie CLI or the Augment IDE agent get steadier and cheaper results from five habits. Keep generated code and secrets out of the index with an .augmentignore, share one rules file, and choose a model per task. Split work into small steps, and have a person review every agent diff before it merges.
When you need this
- The agent pulls in generated files, vendored code, or secrets because nothing tells the index to skip them.
- Engineers get different results from the same request because the agent reads no shared conventions.
- Usage runs out early because every request goes to the most expensive model.
- Agent changes arrive too large to review, or with tests the agent rewrote until they passed.
Evaluation criteria
Indexing checklist
Does the index hold the code the agent needs, and nothing it should not see?
Look forAugment indexes every workspace file except those matched by .gitignore or .augmentignore. Add generated output and secrets to .augmentignore. Use the ! prefix to index ignored folders the agent needs, such as dependency sources.
Starter rules file
Does the agent read your conventions before every task?
Look forAuggie loads a custom rules file, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .augment-guidelines, and Markdown files in .augment/rules, so one versioned AGENTS.md can serve Auggie and your other agents. Cyoda keeps concise guidelines for tone, conventions, and review expectations, plus short memories for domain terms and module boundaries, and audits both.
Model-choice notes
Who decides which model handles a request?
Look forEvery request bills at the chosen model's list price plus a 40% service fee, so model choice sets most of the bill. Augment recommends GPT-5.6 Luna for simple tasks, Sonnet or GPT-5.6 Terra for everyday work, and Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol for the hardest problems. Prism routes requests between models within a family. Some engineers plan with one model and review with another in a fresh session.
Break the work down
Is a large change split into steps the agent can finish and a person can check?
Look forThe Task Manager tracks steps inside a session, and subagents run focused tasks in their own context. Engineers who report steady results give the agent one task from a written plan at a time and keep a spec file per change. When the agent loops, they roll back and retry with a smaller task.
Review checklist
What does the reviewer confirm before approving an agent diff?
Look forThe change touches only what the task needs, reuses existing code, and keeps tests that fail without the fix. Kent Beck caught the agent deleting tests. Cyoda reviews generated tests with the same care as production code and commits a checkpoint before each task, so a rollback is cheap.
Questions to ask vendors
- Which folders and file types should never reach the index, and who maintains .augmentignore?
- Which rules file is the source of truth when engineers also use Claude Code or Cursor?
- Which models may engineers choose for which work, and who updates that list when model prices change?
- Does the rebuilt Auggie CLI change any command, flag, or rules behavior our scripts depend on?
Red flags
- No .augmentignore, so build output and secrets are uploaded for indexing.
- A long rules file nobody has reviewed since it was pasted in.
- Every request sent to the most expensive model by default.
- Agent diffs approved because tests the agent itself changed now pass.
Products in this piece
Sources
- Official documentation
- 6
- Public source
- 5
- Augment docs: Index your workspace (CLI)
- Augment docs: Rules & guidelines
- Augment docs: Token-based pricing
- Augment docs: Available models
- Augment docs: Subagents
- Augment blog: Rebuilding the Auggie CLI harness (Aug 14, 2026)
- Paul Schleger: Getting the most out of Augment Code at Cyoda (Sep 20, 2025)
- Kent Beck: My augmented coding tools as of May 16, 2025 (May 16, 2025)
- Jessica Kerr: Augmented coding, an experience report (Apr 20, 2025)
- Hacker News: GPT writes, Opus reviews, in Augment for eight months (May 10, 2026)
- Hacker News: a team of four rewriting a legacy CRM with Auggie CLI (Mar 15, 2026)