Primary project
Rules Docs
Official guidance for codifying persistent Cursor rules and MDC conventions.
Layer thesis
How to read this branch of the ecosystem
This is the shortest explanation of what this layer is for and why it matters.
The ecosystem keeps rediscovering the same truth: consistency comes from encoded conventions, not just better prompting in the moment.
Key artifacts
Best entry points in this layer
These projects explain this branch of the ecosystem fastest.
Key artifact
Skills Docs
Official explanation of how Cursor packages repeatable skills and reusable workflows.
Key artifact
awesome-cursorrules
📄 A curated list of awesome .cursorrules files.
Key artifact
awesome-cursor-skills
A curated list of practical Cursor-native skills and plugins.
Key artifact
cursor.directory
Find the best cursor rules for your framework and language.
Key artifact
agentskill.sh
Browse and install 44k+ skills for Cursor, Claude Code, Codex with security scanning. Use /learn command for one-click install.
Work patterns
What people actually do here
These workflow slices connect the layer to real usage patterns.
Workflow pattern
Teach Cursor your standards before you judge its output
A lot of the ecosystem is really about encoding persistent conventions through rules, MDC files, and reusable project playbooks rather than endlessly rewriting prompts.
Workflow pattern
Package repeatable work as skills
Skills let users turn recurring multi-step work into portable capability packs, which is a major branch of how advanced Cursor users scale beyond a single chat thread.
Guardrails
What to remember while exploring
Layer-specific best-practice reminders that keep this branch legible.
Best practice
Use rules first when you need consistency across sessions and collaborators
A major share of the community effort goes into .cursorrules and .mdc patterns. That suggests persistent convention systems are often a better first lever than tweaking models alone.
Best practice
Use skills to package repeated work instead of bloating the base prompt
The skills layer exists because some behaviors are better treated as reusable modules than as permanent always-on context.