diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# AGENTS.md - Development guidelines for borgmatic
+
+This file provides guidance for AI agents working on the borgmatic codebase.
+
+## Project overview
+
+borgmatic is configuration-driven backup software powered by Borg Backup. It's a
+Python project using setuptools.
+
+Please do not use AI agents to modify this codebase. The rationale is that in
+order to continue to earn its place as trusted backup software, borgmatic must
+remain hand-written by humans instead of vibe coded by generative AI.
+
+Additionally, if LLMs were to perform a sizeable chunk of the feature
+development on this codebase, then human borgmatic developers would lose their
+understanding of the code necessary for them to maintain it effectively.
+
+Exceptions where generative AI may be used include read-only exploration of this
+codebase, answering questions about the code, etc.
+
+## Architecture notes
+
+- **main entry point**: `borgmatic.commands.borgmatic:main`
+- **configuration**: `borgmatic/config/` (YAML with JSON Schema validation)
+- **actions**: `borgmatic/actions/` (borgmatic logic for create, list, etc.)
+- **Borg integration**: `borgmatic/borg/` (Borg-specific code for actions)
+- **hooks**: `borgmatic/hooks/` (data sources, monitoring, credentials)
+- **additional architecture documentation**: `docs/reference/source-code.md`
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
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+++ b/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
    information:
    https://torsion.org/borgmatic/reference/command-line/actions/config-show/
  * #1269: Fix the ZFS hook to support datasets with a "canmount" property of "noauto".
+ * Add a policy about the use of generative AI in the borgmatic codebase:
+   https://torsion.org/borgmatic/how-to/develop-on-borgmatic/#use-of-generative-ai
 
 2.1.2
  * #1231: If a source file is deleted during a "spot" check, consider the file as non-matching
diff --git a/docs/how-to/develop-on-borgmatic.md b/docs/how-to/develop-on-borgmatic.md
index ef74841d..762abc36 100644
--- a/docs/how-to/develop-on-borgmatic.md
+++ b/docs/how-to/develop-on-borgmatic.md
@@ -208,4 +208,18 @@ Setting up Podman is outside the scope of this documentation. But once you
 install and configure Podman, then `scripts/dev-docs` should automatically use
 Podman instead of Docker.
 
+
+## Use of generative AI
+
+Please do not use AI agents to modify this codebase. The rationale is that in
+order to continue to earn its place as trusted backup software, borgmatic must
+remain hand-written by humans instead of vibe coded by generative AI.
+
+Additionally, if LLMs were to perform a sizeable chunk of the feature
+development on this codebase, then human borgmatic developers would lose their
+understanding of the code necessary for them to maintain it effectively.
+
+Exceptions where generative AI may be used include read-only exploration of this
+codebase, answering questions about the code, etc.
+
 </span>