What this prompt does
This prompt asks the AI to generate a complete .cursorrules file tailored to one specific stack. You feed it a [language]/[framework] pairing, your [package_manager], and your [coding_style], and it produces a ready-to-drop rules file that shapes how Cursor suggests code across the whole project. The seven numbered steps walk through global rules, file-type-specific rules, documentation requirements, test-generation preferences, dependency rules, error-handling conventions, and a preamble comment so new teammates understand the file at a glance.
The structure works because it forces the AI to be explicit about both what to do and what to avoid, which is exactly where editor suggestions usually go wrong. The [preferred_patterns] and [anti_patterns] variables become positive and negative constraints, so Cursor stops re-suggesting things you have already rejected. [file_types] scopes rules per extension, [doc_format] standardizes docblocks on public functions, and [test_framework] plus [test_style] push generated tests toward your real preferences instead of generic defaults like snapshot tests. The [preferred_libs] and [error_pattern] variables encode the small decisions — which validation library, whether to throw or return typed results — that otherwise get re-litigated in every code review. Because all of this lives in one file at the project root, the conventions travel with the repository.
When to use it
- Starting a new project and you want consistent AI suggestions from day one
- Onboarding teammates who should inherit the same Cursor conventions you already use
- Migrating an existing repo onto a stricter set of patterns and wanting them enforced in the editor itself
- Codifying anti-patterns you keep having to correct manually in pull requests
- Standardizing test generation so Cursor stops emitting the wrong framework or snapshot tests
- Documenting why certain libraries are preferred so the rules outlive the person who wrote them
Example output
You get a single .cursorrules file as text: a preamble comment explaining the file's purpose, a global-rules block, file-type-specific sections keyed to your [file_types], documentation and testing rules, a dependency allow-and-deny list built from [preferred_libs], and an error-handling convention drawn from [error_pattern]. It is meant to be pasted into your project root largely unchanged, then trimmed wherever a rule does not apply to your situation.
Pro tips
- Fill
[anti_patterns]from real friction you have hit, not theory — the negative rules are what cut noisy suggestions most effectively - Keep
[preferred_libs]short and opinionated; a long list dilutes the signal Cursor actually acts on - Make
[error_pattern]concrete (for example, typed Result objects rather than throwing for expected failures) so the AI applies it consistently across files - Treat the generated file as a draft: read every rule, delete what does not fit, and tighten any vague wording before committing
- Revisit the file when your
[framework]version changes — rules tied to specifics like App Router conventions age quickly - Keep the preamble comment intact so teammates understand the file before they edit it
