Document contributor setup and agent workflow conventions.

Add build prerequisites for submodules/dependencies/JDK selection in README and introduce AGENTS.md to standardize LLM-assisted development practices.

Made-with: Cursor

Author: gangz

.java-version

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+11.0.26

AGENTS.md

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+# AGENTS Guide
+
+This file documents collaboration conventions for human and LLM agents working on this repository.
+
+## Environment prerequisites
+
+- Use JDK 11+ for Maven build and test.
+- Initialize git submodules before development:
+  - `git submodule update --init --recursive`
+- Install local dependencies before running full builds:
+  - Build and install `utils` module: `cd utils && mvn install -DskipTests && cd ..`
+  - Install local jars: `sh ./lib_install.sh`
+
+## Branching and commit policy
+
+- Do not develop directly on `master`.
+- Use feature branches with focused commits.
+- Keep infrastructure/docs commits separate from feature implementation commits when possible.
+
+## Language frontend migration policy
+
+- Keep existing language frontends stable unless explicitly changing them.
+- Prefer parallel introduction of new frontend options (for example `java-ts`) before replacement.
+- Preserve CLI compatibility and existing analyzer output contracts.
+
+## Testing policy
+
+- Always run targeted tests for changed modules first.
+- Before merging, run:
+  - `mvn clean test`
+  - `mvn clean package`
+- If tests fail due to environment mismatch, fix environment first, then retry tests.
+
+## Safety and scope
+
+- Do not remove existing extractor implementations during migration iterations.
+- Avoid irreversible git operations unless explicitly requested.
+- Do not commit local IDE-only settings unless explicitly requested.

README.md

@@ -17,6 +17,44 @@ and then unzip the ```depends-*version*.tgz``` file in any directory of your com
 
 *Depends* is written in java, so it could be run on any OS with a JRE or JDK environment (like Windows, Linux or Mac OS). 
 
+## Build from source (for contributors)
+
+If you are developing on this repository locally, run the following steps before `mvn test` or `mvn package`.
+
+1. Initialize submodules:
+
+   ```bash
+   git submodule update --init --recursive
+   ```
+
+2. Install the `utils` submodule into your local Maven repo:
+
+   ```bash
+   cd utils
+   mvn install -DskipTests
+   cd ..
+   ```
+
+3. Install local third-party jars (CDT/JRuby) into your local Maven repo:
+
+   ```bash
+   sh ./lib_install.sh
+   ```
+
+4. Use JDK 11+ for Maven build (ANTLR plugin requires this):
+
+   ```bash
+   jenv local 11.0.26
+   export JAVA_HOME="$(jenv prefix)"
+   ```
+
+5. Run build:
+
+   ```bash
+   mvn clean test
+   mvn clean package
+   ```
+
 ## Run it from command line
 
 Following the single responsibility principle, *Depends* is designed for the purpose of extracting dependencies only. It only provides CLI interface, without GUI. But you can convert the output of *Depends* into the GUI of other tools, such as GraphViz(http://graphviz.org/), PlantUML(http://plantuml.com/), and DV8 (https://www.archdia.com).