1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2 3.. _coding_assistants: 4 5AI Coding Assistants 6++++++++++++++++++++ 7 8This document provides guidance for AI tools and developers using AI 9assistance when contributing to the Linux kernel. 10 11AI tools helping with Linux kernel development should follow the standard 12kernel development process: 13 14* Documentation/process/development-process.rst 15* Documentation/process/coding-style.rst 16* Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst 17 18For guidelines on content generated by AI coding assistants see: 19 20* Documentation/process/generated-content.rst 21 22Licensing and Legal Requirements 23================================ 24 25All contributions must comply with the kernel's licensing requirements: 26 27* All code must be compatible with GPL-2.0-only 28* Use appropriate SPDX license identifiers 29* See Documentation/process/license-rules.rst for details 30 31Signed-off-by and Developer Certificate of Origin 32================================================= 33 34AI agents MUST NOT add Signed-off-by tags. Only humans can legally 35certify the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO). The human submitter 36is responsible for: 37 38* Reviewing all AI-generated code 39* Ensuring compliance with licensing requirements 40* Adding their own Signed-off-by tag to certify the DCO 41* Taking full responsibility for the contribution 42 43Attribution 44=========== 45 46When AI tools contribute to kernel development, proper attribution 47helps track the evolving role of AI in the development process. 48Contributions should include an Assisted-by tag in the following format:: 49 50 Assisted-by: LLM [TOOL1] [TOOL2] 51 52* ``[TOOL1] [TOOL2]`` are optional specialized analysis tools used 53 (e.g., coccinelle, sparse, smatch, clang-tidy) 54 55Basic development tools (git, gcc, make, editors) should not be listed. 56 57Example:: 58 59 Assisted-by: LLM coccinelle sparse 60