Cursor Rules

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

Cursor Rules (formerly .cursorrules) are instructions you put in your project to tell Cursor IDE how to behave — like a CLAUDE.md but for Cursor. 'Always use TypeScript strict mode. Never use any. Follow our naming conventions.' It's teaching the AI your team's preferences so it doesn't go rogue with its own opinions about semicolons.

Real Talk

Cursor Rules (.cursor/rules or .cursorrules) are project-level configuration files that define coding conventions, preferred patterns, and constraints for Cursor IDE's AI features. They function similarly to CLAUDE.md files for Claude Code, providing persistent context about project-specific requirements, stack choices, and style preferences.

When You'll Hear This

"Add a cursor rule to always use arrow functions." / "The cursor rules enforce our TypeScript strict mode preference."