Jules vs Roo Code | agentconfig.ing

Jules vs Roo CodeComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Jules (Agent) uses markdown configuration while Roo Code (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 3 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Jules	Roo Code	Notes
Config format	markdown	markdown
Hierarchy support	✓	✗	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✗	✗	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✓
Subdirectory scoping	✓	✗	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	✗	✗
IDE integration	Agent	✓
Schema / structure	Free-form (Markdown)	Free-form (Markdown)	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

FILE MAPPING

Purpose	Jules	Roo Code
Settings / configuration	.gemini/settings.json	.roomodes

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Jules

AGENTS.md

markdown

# Agent Instructions

## Project
A Django REST API serving a React frontend.

## Setup
- Python 3.12 with Poetry
- PostgreSQL 15
- Redis for caching and Celery broker

## Key Commands
- poetry run python manage.py runserver
- poetry run pytest
- poetry run mypy .

## Pull Request Guidelines
- Keep PRs focused on a single issue
- Add tests for all new functionality
- Update API docs in docs/api/ if endpoints change
- Run the linter: poetry run ruff check .

## Architecture Notes
- apps/core/ — shared models and utilities
- apps/api/v2/ — current API version
- apps/tasks/ — Celery background tasks

Roo Code

.roo/rules/*.md

markdown

# Code Standards

## TypeScript
- Enable strict mode in all tsconfig files
- No `any` types — use `unknown` and narrow
- Prefer interfaces over type aliases for object shapes

## React
- Functional components only
- Use custom hooks for shared stateful logic
- Colocate component, styles, and tests

## Git
- Conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:, etc.)
- Keep commits atomic and focused
- Squash merge feature branches

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Hierarchy support

Jules: Supported. Roo Code: Not supported.

2. Subdirectory scoping

Jules: Supported. Roo Code: Not supported.

3. IDE integration

Jules: Agent. Roo Code: Supported.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Jules, configure AGENTS.md. If you use Roo Code, configure .roo/rules/*.md. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md