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Cursor currently recognizes root-level AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md, and it still supports the legacy root-level .cursorrules file. Cursor’s configurable project-rule system is .cursor/rules, where each rule can be set to Always, Auto Attached, Agent Requested or Manual. The important qualification is that Cursor’s official documentation does not publish a deterministic loading order or a conflict winner among AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md and .cursorrules. Do not assume that one of those files automatically overrides another.
If two files disagree, make the intended priority explicit in your instructions, reduce duplication, and inspect the active rules or context view in the Cursor version you use. That is a practical way to diagnose a repository, not an undocumented promise about file precedence.
At a glance: what Cursor reads
| Mechanism | What the documentation establishes | How it can be applied | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
.cursor/rules/*.mdc |
Cursor’s configurable, version-controlled Project Rules | Always, Auto Attached, Agent Requested or Manual | Whether a rule is active depends on its mode and, for attached rules, its matching conditions |
Root AGENTS.md |
A plain-Markdown alternative for straightforward project instructions | The rules guide describes project-wide application | The documented version describes a root-level file without scoping or multiple-file organization; nested support was described as planned for v1.6, which is a version-specific note rather than proof of the current rollout |
Root CLAUDE.md |
Cursor’s help page says Cursor picks it up automatically and applies it to every conversation | Read alongside the other project instruction mechanisms when present | The help page does not establish its priority relative to AGENTS.md or .cursorrules |
Root .cursorrules |
A legacy file that remains supported | Migration to a Project Rule set to Always is recommended to reproduce the old always-on behavior | No official file-by-file precedence statement is published |
This table separates two questions that are often conflated: whether Cursor recognizes a file, and under what conditions its instructions become active. Recognition does not by itself tell you which instruction wins when files conflict.
Does Cursor read AGENTS.md?
Yes. Cursor’s rules documentation recognizes a root-level AGENTS.md as a plain-Markdown way to provide project instructions. It is intended for a straightforward set of instructions rather than the more configurable rule files in .cursor/rules.
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What “root-level” means
Place the file at the top of the project that Cursor has opened. The documentation reviewed describes AGENTS.md at that project root, not an arbitrary file in a subdirectory. A note in the rules guide said nested AGENTS.md support was planned for v1.6. Treat that as a statement about the version of the guide, not as evidence that every current Cursor build handles nested files identically.
How it behaves
The rules guide presents AGENTS.md as project instructions that are globally applied within the project. In practical terms, it is a good place for conventions that should accompany normal work in the repository: the supported build command, testing expectations, architectural boundaries, coding style and safety constraints.
Because this format is plain Markdown, it does not provide the per-rule activation modes available in .cursor/rules. If one instruction should apply only to a particular file type or workflow, a Project Rule is the better fit.
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- Use it for a compact, repository-wide policy that should be readable by people and tools.
- Keep instructions concrete: commands, directories, validation steps and non-negotiable constraints are more useful than broad aspirations.
- Do not create a second copy of the same policy in several instruction files; duplicated wording can drift and make a conflict harder to diagnose.
Does Cursor read CLAUDE.md?
Yes. Cursor’s help page says that Cursor reads CLAUDE.md files the same way it reads AGENTS.md. In the wording of Cursor Docs, “Cursor reads CLAUDE.md files the same way it reads AGENTS.md.” The same help page says the file is applied to every conversation.
What the CLI documentation adds
Cursor’s CLI guide separately says it reads root AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md, when present, alongside .cursor/rules. That establishes that these files belong to the project-instruction set recognized by the CLI documentation; it does not publish an ordering between the files.
What “always applied” does and does not mean
“Applied to every conversation” describes frequency of application. It does not say that CLAUDE.md overrides AGENTS.md, that it is loaded first, or that it defeats a contradictory Project Rule. Those are separate claims, and the reviewed help and rules pages do not make them.
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Using CLAUDE.md safely in a shared project
If a repository also contains AGENTS.md, decide whether the two files have distinct purposes or whether one should become the canonical source. A practical split is to keep repository-specific engineering policy in one file and reserve the other for genuinely different instructions that your team has agreed to maintain. If both files contain the same type of rule, write a clear statement describing which instruction is intended to be authoritative; do not rely on filename folklore.
Is .cursorrules still supported?
Yes, according to Cursor’s rules documentation, but it is legacy and deprecated. The documentation’s recommendation is: “Still supported, but deprecated. Use Project Rules instead.” Cursor recommends moving the contents of .cursorrules into a Project Rule and configuring that rule as Always Apply to match the old behavior.
Why migration matters
A single .cursorrules file gives you little control over when a particular instruction is included. Project Rules let you separate policies and choose an activation mode for each one. That makes a large repository easier to maintain and lets a rule apply only when it is relevant.
What happens if you leave it in place
Leaving .cursorrules in the repository is not the same as removing support: the documentation says it remains recognized. However, it is a compatibility path, not the direction Cursor recommends for new configuration. If you keep it during a transition, avoid creating contradictory copies in .cursor/rules. Migrate one policy at a time, verify the resulting behavior, and then remove obsolete text so future contributors know which file to edit.
How do .cursor/rules modes change what Cursor applies?
Project Rules are stored as project files, commonly with an .mdc extension, and can be configured with four application modes. The mode is part of the rule’s behavior; the mere presence of a file does not mean every rule is active in every interaction.
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Always
An Always rule is intended for instructions that should be active throughout work in the project. This is the mode Cursor recommends when migrating a legacy .cursorrules file and trying to preserve its old always-on behavior.
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Auto Attached
An Auto Attached rule is included when its configured file-pattern conditions match the work being done. This is useful for rules that belong to a language, directory or file family. A rule for a particular frontend directory, for example, should not be assumed to govern unrelated backend files unless its conditions say so.
Agent Requested
An Agent Requested rule is available for the agent to select when it determines that the rule is relevant. It is not equivalent to an Always rule, so do not put a safety requirement here if that requirement must be present on every request.
Manual
A Manual rule requires explicit invocation. It is appropriate for an optional procedure or checklist that a developer chooses for a particular task, not for a baseline repository policy.
Choosing a mode
| Need | Suitable mode | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Every task must follow the policy | Always | The rule is continuously included |
| Only matching files need the policy | Auto Attached | Activation follows configured patterns |
| The agent should opt in when relevant | Agent Requested | The rule is available without forcing it into every context |
| A human should invoke the procedure | Manual | Activation is deliberate rather than automatic |
In what order does Cursor read these files?
Cursor’s reviewed official documentation does not specify a deterministic order among root AGENTS.md, root CLAUDE.md and .cursorrules. The pages establish that these mechanisms are recognized, but they do not say which file is loaded first, which file is merged last, or which one wins if two instructions directly conflict.
Why the answer is not “CLAUDE.md first” or “AGENTS.md wins”
Search results and community explanations sometimes turn a file being “always applied” into a priority claim. That is not justified by the help-page wording. Likewise, describing AGENTS.md as a plain-Markdown alternative does not establish that it overrides a legacy file or a Project Rule. Without an explicit statement from Cursor, any fixed file order would be an assumption.
What the Team, Project and User precedence statement means
Cursor’s help page publishes a category-level precedence statement: Team Rules > Project Rules > User Rules. This tells you how those rule categories relate. It does not answer the different question of how individual project files—AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules or a particular .cursor/rules file—are ordered against one another.
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Do not use Team > Project > User as evidence that one of the three named files automatically overrides another. They are not the same level of abstraction.
How to make instruction conflicts deterministic in your repository
Because a documented file winner is unavailable, the safest approach is to design the repository so that a winner is rarely needed.
1. Pick one canonical home for each policy
Decide where each kind of instruction belongs. For example, place universal project conventions in one root instruction file and put language- or directory-specific behavior in appropriately scoped Project Rules. Do not repeat a requirement in all three legacy and root-level files merely to increase its apparent importance.
2. State priorities in plain language
When two concerns can legitimately differ, write the relationship explicitly: which rule is the baseline, which rule is an exception, and under what condition the exception applies. This gives an agent a reasoned instruction rather than a filename-based guess.
3. Separate mandatory constraints from preferences
Mark commands that must run, files that must not be edited and security restrictions as mandatory. Keep formatting preferences and optional workflows separate. A concise hierarchy is easier to follow than several paragraphs that mix hard constraints with suggestions.
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4. Use activation modes intentionally
Set cross-project requirements to Always, pattern-dependent requirements to Auto Attached, optional guidance to Agent Requested and deliberate procedures to Manual. A conflict caused by an accidentally always-on rule is often a configuration problem rather than a file-order problem.
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5. Inspect the active context
When behavior does not match expectations, open the rules or context view available in your installed Cursor version and check which instructions are active for the current request. Labels and placement can change between releases, so use the interface exposed by your build rather than relying on a screenshot or an older menu path.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical migration path from .cursorrules
- Inventory the legacy file. Split its contents into distinct concerns such as build commands, coding conventions, testing, generated files and security boundaries.
- Create Project Rules. Move each concern into a version-controlled rule under
.cursor/rulesinstead of copying the entire file into one undifferentiated block. - Choose an application mode for each rule. Set rules that must be present for every task to Always; use Auto Attached for file-pattern-specific guidance; reserve Agent Requested and Manual for optional procedures.
- Remove duplicate wording. During the transition, a requirement may exist in both files. Keep one authoritative version and delete stale copies so later edits cannot diverge.
- Exercise representative tasks. Try a normal coding request, a task involving a matching file pattern and an explicitly optional procedure. Confirm that the expected rules appear in the active context for each case.
- Delete or archive the obsolete legacy file when the migration is complete. If you retain it temporarily, document that it is transitional and identify the Project Rule that replaces it.
Troubleshooting common symptoms
“My instruction is ignored.”
- Confirm the filename is exactly
AGENTS.md,CLAUDE.mdor.cursorrules, including punctuation and capitalization. - Confirm the file is at the project root described by the Cursor documentation, rather than an unrecognized nested location.
- If the instruction is in
.cursor/rules, check its mode. Auto Attached rules need matching conditions; Agent Requested and Manual rules are not continuously active. - Check the active rules or context view in your installed Cursor version to see whether the instruction was included for that request.
“Two instructions conflict.”
- Do not assume that the filename itself supplies a priority.
- Search the project for duplicate wording and keep one canonical statement.
- Rewrite the instructions to identify a baseline and an exception, or move the conditional instruction into an Auto Attached rule.
- If the conflict persists, simplify the set of active rules and test again, recording which configuration produced the expected result.
“A migrated rule applies too often.”
The old .cursorrules behavior may have been intentionally broad, while the replacement should be conditional. Change the Project Rule from Always to Auto Attached when the policy belongs only to matching files, and verify the pattern against both a matching and a non-matching task.
“A nested instruction file has no effect.”
The documented rules guide describes root-level AGENTS.md support and mentions nested support as planned for v1.6. Since that note is version-specific, do not assume that a nested file is supported by your installed build. Put the instruction at the documented project root or express the scope with a Project Rule whose activation conditions your version supports.
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There is no requirement to create every mechanism. A small repository can work well with one root instruction file. A larger repository benefits from separating universal policy from conditional rules.
- Root instruction file: keep a short, human-readable baseline covering commands, testing expectations and non-negotiable boundaries.
.cursor/rules: store focused rules for particular languages, directories or workflows, with an explicit application mode..cursorrules: treat as a migration source rather than the preferred place for new policy.- Documentation: explain where contributors should add or change an instruction so a future fix does not create a duplicate in another file.
The goal is not to maximize the number of files. It is to make the active instruction set predictable, reviewable and easy to change.
What you can and cannot conclude from Cursor’s documentation
| Question | Supported conclusion |
|---|---|
Does Cursor recognize root AGENTS.md? |
Yes, the rules guide describes it as a plain-Markdown project-instruction alternative. |
Does Cursor recognize root CLAUDE.md? |
Yes, the help page says it is picked up automatically and applied to every conversation; the CLI guide also lists it alongside root AGENTS.md. |
Is .cursorrules supported? |
Yes, but it is described as legacy and deprecated; migration to a Project Rule is recommended. |
| Are all Project Rules always active? | No. Their mode can be Always, Auto Attached, Agent Requested or Manual. |
| Which of the three files wins a conflict? | Not stated in the reviewed official documentation. |
| Does Team > Project > User establish file order? | No. It is category precedence, not a published order among individual project files. |
Bottom line for maintainers
Use root AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md for straightforward project-wide instructions, use .cursor/rules when you need activation modes and scoped behavior, and regard .cursorrules as a supported legacy format to migrate. Cursor currently documents recognition of all three named files, but it does not document a deterministic order or conflict winner among them. Treat explicit, non-duplicated instructions and verification in the active context as your source of predictability.
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