Creating Cursor Rules

Create project rules in .cursor/rules/ to provide persistent context for the AI agent.

Gather Requirements

Before creating a rule, determine:

1. Purpose: What should this rule enforce or teach?
2. Scope: Should it always apply, or only for specific files?
3. File patterns: If file-specific, which glob patterns?

Inferring from Context

If you have previous conversation context, infer rules from what was discussed. You can create multiple rules if the conversation covers distinct topics or patterns. Don't ask redundant questions if the context already provides the answers.

Required Questions

If the user hasn't specified scope, ask:

• "Should this rule always apply, or only when working with specific files?"

If they mentioned specific files and haven't provided concrete patterns, ask:

• "Which file patterns should this rule apply to?" (e.g., **/*.ts, backend/**/*.py)

It's very important that we get clarity on the file patterns.

Use the AskQuestion tool when available to gather this efficiently.

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Rule File Format

Rules are .mdc files in .cursor/rules/ with YAML frontmatter:

.cursor/rules/
  typescript-standards.mdc
  react-patterns.mdc
  api-conventions.mdc

File Structure

---
description: Brief description of what this rule does
globs: **/*.ts  # File pattern for file-specific rules
alwaysApply: false  # Set to true if rule should always apply
---

# Rule Title

Your rule content here...

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Type	Description
description	string	What the rule does (shown in rule picker)
globs	string	File pattern - rule applies when matching files are open
alwaysApply	boolean	If true, applies to every session

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Rule Configurations

Always Apply

For universal standards that should apply to every conversation: