Personal Cursor Setup

⚠️ AI-generated instructions. The ideas are mine though.

Automatically captures, maintains, and loads AI context rules without bloating every conversation.

Setup (from scratch)

Step 1: Cursor Settings → Rules for AI

Open Cursor → Settings → Rules for AI.

Add this user-level rule (applies across all repos):

Rule name: rule-lifecycle

Do not touch .cursor/rules/*.mdc files in any repo — those are team-shared workspace rules and are a separate system.

## Rule Lifecycle

Store reusable knowledge as rule files — prefer the most specific location:

- Specific to this repo → .cursor/rules/local/<name>.mdc (with description frontmatter)
- Applies across multiple repos or is a CLI/workflow tool → ~/.cursor/rules/personal/<name>.md

ALWAYS append a ## Rule Suggestions section at the end of any response where you used Read, Glob, Grep, or SemanticSearch tools. Even if no changes needed — write the section and explicitly state that.

If a rule is worth creating, write the file directly. Don’t just suggest it.

After creating/modifying rules, update ~/.cursor/rules-meta.md.

Before starting any task, check ~/.cursor/rules/personal/ for applicable rules and read them before proceeding. This is mandatory.

Step 2: Run the init script

Run once to create support files:

mkdir -p ~/.cursor/rules/personal ~/.cursor/commands

cat > ~/.cursor/rules-meta.md << 'EOF'
# Cursor Rules Registry
Last updated:

## Global Rules (~/.cursor/rules/personal/)
## Repo Rules (.cursor/rules/local/)
## Candidates for Review
## Archive
EOF

cat > ~/.cursor/pending-tasks.md << 'EOF'
# Pending Tasks
Last updated:

## Recurring Tasks
| Task | Command | Frequency | Last Run |
|------|---------|-----------|----------|
| Audit Local Rules | /audit-local-rules | monthly | |
| Discover New Rules | /discover-rules | quarterly | |

## Queue
## Completed
EOF

Team Config

cat > ~/.cursor/team-config.md << 'EOF'
# Team Config

## Team Members
| Username | Name |
|----------|------|
| suzil | Susannah Klaneček |

## Git Author Filter
Primary:
git log --author="@evilcorp.com"

Fallback:
git log --author="suzil"

## Discovery Zones (corp-repo)
- src/CorpFeature/
EOF

Commands

`/capture-rule`

1. Read ~/.cursor/rules-meta.md
2. Identify reusable knowledge
3. Determine scope:
   - Repo → .cursor/rules/local/<name>.mdc
   - Global → ~/.cursor/rules/personal/<name>.md
4. For repo rules, include frontmatter:
---
description: USE WHEN <trigger>
alwaysApply: false
---
5. Write the rule file
6. Update ~/.cursor/rules-meta.md
7. Summarize changes

`/audit-local-rules`

- Read registry and rules
- Check git changes (last 60 days)
- Validate:
  - Paths still exist
  - Patterns still accurate
  - Descriptions precise
  - No overlap

Actions:
- Update rules
- Remove (with confirmation)
- Sharpen descriptions

Update rules-meta.md

`/discover-rules`

- Read team-config, pending-tasks
- Determine last run date
- Analyze git activity
- Identify high-value undocumented areas

Skip:
- Already documented rules
- Generic patterns
- Low-value info

Create:
- .cursor/rules/local/<name>.mdc
- Update registry
- Update last run date

`/check-schedule`

- Show queued tasks (overdue + upcoming)
- Check recurring tasks
- Execute selected tasks
- Move completed tasks
- Update pending-tasks.md

`/queue-tasks`

- Evaluate recurring tasks:
  - daily / weekly / monthly / quarterly
- Add due tasks to queue
- Avoid duplicates
- Do not execute tasks
- Update pending-tasks.md

Step 3: Per-repo setup

mkdir -p .cursor/rules/local
echo "local/" >> .cursor/rules/.gitignore

Step 4: Verify

Ask in a new chat:

What’s in .cursor/rules/local/?

You should see:

## Rule Suggestions
(no changes needed)

Day-to-Day Usage

Automatic

AI appends ## Rule Suggestions
Writes rules automatically when useful
Updates rules-meta.md

Manual

/capture-rule

Maintenance

/audit-local-rules   # monthly
/discover-rules      # quarterly
/check-schedule

File Layout

~/.cursor/
├── RULE_SYSTEM.md
├── team-config.md
├── rules-meta.md
├── pending-tasks.md
├── rules/personal/
│   └── <name>.md
└── commands/
    ├── capture-rule.md
    ├── audit-local-rules.md
    ├── discover-rules.md
    ├── check-schedule.md
    └── queue-tasks.md

Per repo:

.cursor/rules/local/
  <name>.mdc

Rule Storage Tiers

Tier	Location	Use Case	Loaded
Settings	Cursor Settings	Global always-on	Every prompt
Personal	~/.cursor/rules/personal/	Cross-repo	On demand
Repo (globs)	.cursor/rules/local/	File-specific	Auto
Repo (description)	.cursor/rules/local/	Contextual	Heuristic

Prefer globs for reliability.

Rule Format

Repo rule

---
description: USE WHEN <trigger>
globs: src/**/*.hs
alwaysApply: false
---

# Rule Title
Content...

Global rule

Plain markdown (no frontmatter)

Registry

~/.cursor/rules-meta.md is:

Human-readable index
Used for auditing/discovery
Not used for rule loading

Scheduling

/queue-tasks → writes only
/check-schedule → interactive execution

System Flow (simplified)

Rules auto-injected based on context
AI works → suggests rules → writes rules
Periodic jobs:

audit (correct)
discover (expand)
schedule (queue + run)