Cursor Automatic Rules Generation with Agile Workflow Template

Cursor Version Applicability: 0.46+

Important Note V 0.47+

• I have updated the repo to properly add .cursor/rules/* to the .cursorindexingignore - without this, you will run into a lot of flakiness when trying to edit or tweak an existing rule or change its type without reindexing the whole project. This will make A BIG difference.

Important Updates TL;DR (March 25, 2025)

• Subfolder organization replaces numbered file prefixing and is fully supported by auto generation
• Agent mode recommended for rule generation
• Four distinct rule types available - see Rule Types section
• Workflow is no longer in XNotes - it has moved to .cursor/rules/workflows and /templates - this is much better and replaces the need for using the beta notepads feature, now using the manual rule macro feature instead!

💡 IDE Setting HIGHLY Suggested: For best results with rule generation, update your Cursor settings by adding:

"workbench.editorAssociations": {
  "*.mdc": "default"
}

This prevents UI rendering issues with .mdc files and ensures proper save functionality.

Files Excluded from Indexing

The .cursorindexingignore feature allows certain files to be accessible but excluded from indexing:

• Templates moved to .cursor/templates folder
• Included in .cursorindexingignore but not in .cursorignore
• XNotes remains in .cursorignore (files that need to move elsewhere to be used)

Video Demo and Walkthrough - Subscribe for more Cursor tutorials!

💡 Compatibility: Tested with Claude Sonnet 3.5, 3.7, 3.7 Thinking, o3-mini, and GPT-4o.

Overview

This template dramatically improves AI workflows in Agent/Edit mode by providing:

1. Automated Rule Generation: Create and update rules through natural language requests
2. Consistent AI Behavior: Rules are applied automatically when appropriate or on demand or always depending on which of the 4 rule types are created/exist
3. Quick Project Setup: A script that will set up a new project with core rules and workflow, or add the rule generator to an existing project in a non destructive manner to existing cursor rules

💡 Note: For a complete guide to the Agile-Cursor Workflow system, see Agile Workflow Documentation.

Key Concepts

• Rules use frontmatter with proper YAML format (description, globs, alwaysApply)
• Rules will be generated with explicitly requesting a rule be create, or implied by asking for corrective behavior from the agent
• Rules are enhanced by including both a valid and invalid example to better train the llm
• Examples will include context of corrective action or chat context when appropriate
• Short, focused rules (target: 25 lines, maximum: 50 lines)
• Four rule types within an automatically organized subfolder categorization structure

Quick Start Options

A) New Project Setup

Start a new project with the Agile Workflow and Rules Generator:

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/bmadcode/cursor-auto-rules-agile-workflow.git
cd cursor-auto-rules-agile-workflow

# Create new project with rules
./apply-rules.sh /path/to/your/project

# Example:
./apply-rules.sh ~/projects/my-project

The script creates your project folder (if needed) with all rules, documentation, and configuration files to start with the agile workflow.

B) Add to Existing Project

Enhance your current project with the rules generator:

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/bmadcode/cursor-auto-rules-agile-workflow.git
cd cursor-auto-rules-agile-workflow

# Apply rules to your project
./apply-rules.sh /path/to/your/project

The script will:

1. Copy template rules to your project's .cursor/rules/ directory
2. Add workflow documentation
3. Update .gitignore to protect private rules
4. Preserve any existing rules

How Rule Generation Works

graph TD
    subgraph User Actions
        A[User requests rule creation<br>in agent chat] --> B[Agent processes rule request]
        H[User continues<br>development with new rule] --> A
    end

    subgraph Rule Processing
        B --> C[rule-generating-agent monitors<br>for rule creation requests]
        C --> D[Agent determines rule type:<br>Agent, Always, Auto, or Manual]
        D --> E[Agent creates rule with<br>appropriate frontmatter configuration]
        E --> F[Agent categorizes rule<br>and adds to proper subfolder]
        F --> G[Agent responds with<br>rule creation summary]
    end

    subgraph Continuous Improvement
        G --> H
    end

    style A fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style B fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style C fill:#dfd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style D fill:#dfd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style E fill:#dfd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style F fill:#dfd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style G fill:#dfd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style H fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

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Example Rule Generation Prompts

No need to explicitly say "create a rule" - just describe the desired behavior:

• "Create a typescript file commenting standard that balances thoroughness with brevity"
• "Please create an agent rule so that whenever I request deep research specifically on a topic you will first always inject the system date time into the context and use the Tavily search MCP tool to improve the results."
• "Never create JS files again, you will only create TS or JSON files!" or "I asked you to set up Jest for our project and you created a JestConfig.js file, yet this is a TypeScript only project. Never again create any JS files. Always use TypeScript or JSON if necessary." - the second version of this request will ensure that the rule examples includes this specific call out, helping the agent learn better from actual mistakes made.
• "Ensure proper error handling in all TypeScript files"
• "Talk like a pirate in communications but not in code or documentation"
• "Update testing standards to require 80% coverage"
• "Enforce consistent naming conventions in my code"
• "Standardize documentation formats"
• "Keep imports organized in groups alphabetically in TypeScript files"

The AI automatically:

1. Creates/updates the rule file
2. Places it in the correct location
3. Follows formatting standards
4. Maintains version control

Rule Types

Rule Type	Usage	description Field	globs Field	alwaysApply field
Agent Selected	Agent sees description and chooses when to apply	critical	blank	false
Always	Applied to every chat and cmd-k request	blank	blank	true
Auto Select	Applied to matching existing files	blank	critical glob pattern	false
Auto Select+desc	Better for new files	included	critical glob pattern	false
Manual	User must reference in chat	blank	blank	false

Private vs Shared Rules

• Private rules: Store in a folder added to .gitignore (e.g., .cursor/rules/my-rules/pirate-speak-always.mdc)

Best Practices

Rule Creation

• Let AI handle rule creation and updates
• Be specific about desired behaviors
• Provide examples of good/bad patterns
• For new projects, allow organic rule emergence

AI Behavior Control

• Create rules when noticing inconsistent behavior
• Use clear, descriptive language
• Verify AI understanding by reviewing rules

Workflow Integration

• Start with template rules
• Let AI evolve rules as your project grows
• Maintain consistency using AI for rule management

Rule Removal

• Some rules become unnecessary as codebase grows as the AI will follow surrounding code styles and conventions
• The minimal amount of rules, the better - so prune rules as the codebase changes or models improve

Contributing

Contributions to improve base rules or suggest new templates are welcome. Please follow the established standards.

License

MIT 🚀