HEARTBEAT.md vs AGENTS.md - best practice or examples?

I'm trying to understand the relationship between HEARTBEAT.md and AGENTS.md for heartbeat behavior.
The default Agents.md heartbeat prompt says "Read HEARTBEAT.md if exists. Consider outstanding tasks." But AGENTS.md is already loaded as context and seemingly contains heartbeat-specific guidance.

My confusion:
- If I put heartbeat instructions in AGENTS.md (which is always loaded), do I still need guidance in HEARTBEAT.md? - Should HEARTBEAT.md contain actions (like "check TODO.md") or just be empty since the prompt already says "consider outstanding tasks"?
- Is there a reason to keep heartbeat guidance in two places vs consolidating in AGENTS.md?
What's the intended best practice here?
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