.cursorrules

.cursorrules is a project-level configuration file used by the Cursor AI code editor to define custom rules, coding conventions, and behavioral instructions that shape how the editor's AI assistant generates and edits code. The file is placed in the root of a repository and is read automatically by Cursor when the project is opened, giving teams a way to enforce architectural patterns, style guides, framework conventions, and tooling preferences across all AI-generated code. The format is intentionally flexible - rules are typically written in plain Markdown or natural language and may include sections describing project structure, technology stack, naming conventions, testing requirements, and out-of-scope behaviors. Cursor has since extended the concept with .cursor/rules/ directories of multiple scoped rule files, but the original .cursorrules file remains widely used and supported.

.cursorrules is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include AI Agents, AI Copilot, Coding Standards, Configuration, and Cursor.

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6.8/100 minimal ▬ flat Agent 0/100 human only Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5

0 APIs

AI AgentsAI CopilotCoding StandardsConfigurationCursorDeveloper WorkflowLLMPrompt EngineeringRulesStandard

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5

Composite quality — 6.8/100 · minimal

Contract Quality 0.0 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 0.0 / 20

Commercial Clarity 0.0 / 20

Operational Transparency 0.0 / 13

Governance 0.0 / 12

Discoverability 6.8 / 10

Agent readiness — 0/100 · human only

Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 0 / 15

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/cursorrules: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

Resources

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Cursor Documentation

Cursor Documentation

Rules Documentation

Rules Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

LlmsText

LlmsText

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Awesome CursorRules

Awesome CursorRules

CursorRules Directory

CursorRules Directory

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Cursor Forum

Cursor Forum

Source (apis.yml)

aid: cursorrules
name: .cursorrules
description: .cursorrules is a project-level configuration file used by the Cursor AI code editor to define custom rules,
  coding conventions, and behavioral instructions that shape how the editor's AI assistant generates and edits code. The file
  is placed in the root of a repository and is read automatically by Cursor when the project is opened, giving teams a way
  to enforce architectural patterns, style guides, framework conventions, and tooling preferences across all AI-generated
  code. The format is intentionally flexible - rules are typically written in plain Markdown or natural language and may include
  sections describing project structure, technology stack, naming conventions, testing requirements, and out-of-scope behaviors.
  Cursor has since extended the concept with .cursor/rules/ directories of multiple scoped rule files, but the original .cursorrules
  file remains widely used and supported.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cursorrules/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/cursorrules.png
tags:
- AI Agents
- AI Copilot
- Coding Standards
- Configuration
- Cursor
- Developer Workflow
- LLM
- Prompt Engineering
- Rules
- Standard
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-28'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
apis: []
integrations:
- name: Publish Plugins
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
common:
- type: Cursor Documentation
  url: https://cursor.com/docs
- type: Rules Documentation
  url: https://cursor.com/docs/context/rules
- type: Awesome CursorRules
  url: https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules
- type: CursorRules Directory
  url: https://cursor.directory
- type: Cursor Forum
  url: https://forum.cursor.com
- type: Integrations
  url: https://cursor.com/marketplace
- type: LlmsText
  url: https://cursor.com/llms.txt