Keep Cursor Aligned with Your Intent

Hey there, builders! 👋

Today, I'm thrilled to share a new feature that's going to make your AI-assisted coding experience significantly smoother. In our latest release of SpecStory v0.7.0, we've introduced an experimental feature that automatically derives your Cursor Project Rules.

Why We Built It

Let's be real - working with AI code generators is amazing, but keeping them aligned with your intent can sometimes feel like herding cats. We've all been there:

• You explain your architecture preferences to your AI pair programmer...
• Two hours later, you find yourself explaining the same thing again...
• And again the next day...
• And to every new team member who joins your project...

This challenge becomes even more pronounced for teams working on complex projects with specific architectural patterns and coding standards. The result? Inconsistent code, architectural drift, and frustrating regressions that waste precious developer time.

We built the Cursor Rules Generator because it's something we desperately wanted ourselves. We needed a way to keep our AI assistants on track without constantly repeating ourselves. The solution had to be lightweight, intuitive, and work within our existing development flow.

How It Works

Our new feature automatically creates and maintains a derived-cursor-rules.mdc file in your .cursor/rules directory. The magic happens in the background as you naturally interact with Cursor day in and day out - no special workflow required.

Here's what you get:

• Automatic rule generation based on your interactions with Cursor
• Version control friendly with automatic backup of previous versions
• Customizable file headers to fine-tune rule generation
• Seamless integration with your existing workflow

Using it

To use this feature you must:

• Have Auto-save enabled.
• Create an account and sign-in to the SpecStory extension.

This feature is currently free. Each generation makes a call to an LLM and we require authentication to prevent abuse.

For a quick intro video to get up and running check out our docs here.

The Science Behind Better Rules

Our approach is informed by extensive research on how developers effectively leverage .cursorrules. Our co-founder Greg recently published some fascinating insights on Reddit after analyzing thousands of posts about Cursor and other AI code editors.

The research revealed clear patterns in successful .cursorrules implementations:

What works best:

• Concise, targeted rules focused on universal project standards
• Clear "do" vs. "don't" instructions that leave no room for ambiguity
• Project-specific context about your tech stack and architecture
• Regular updates and pruning to prevent outdated guidance

What to avoid:

• Overstuffing rules with irrelevant details
• Expecting rules to solve everything
• Contradicting established rules in your prompts
• Forgetting to re-index when files change

Getting Started

Ready to give it a try? Here's how to enable the feature:

1. Update to SpecStory v0.7.0 or later
2. Go to Settings and enable specstory.derivedCursorRules
3. Make sure auto-save is enabled
4. Sign in to your SpecStory account
5. Start coding naturally with Cursor

The system will automatically begin learning from your interactions and building your customized rules file.

Understanding Cursor Rules

If you're new to Cursor Rules or want to deepen your understanding, check out Cursor's official documentation on the subject.

The new Project Rules system offers incredible flexibility with path-specific configurations, semantic descriptions, and file pattern matching - all of which our generator takes full advantage of.

Our Vision for the Future

This feature represents a small but important step toward our broader vision: helping entrepreneurial teams use all their tools and talents to build valuable software faster, together.

As development teams increasingly include both human and AI contributors, maintaining alignment becomes critical. The automatically derived Cursor Rules act as a living bridge between human intent and AI assistance - evolving naturally as your project grows.

We're just getting started with this feature, and we have exciting enhancements planned for future releases. Think of this as v0.1 of a capability that will become increasingly powerful and intuitive.

Join Us On This Journey!

We'd love to hear how the Cursor Rules Generator is working for you! Connect with our vibrant community of AI-first builders and software composers - your feedback directly shapes our roadmap.

Ready to dive in? Join us through any of these channels:

• Subscribe to our Newsletter for our latest thinking
• Join our Slack community to chat with fellow builders
• Follow us on LinkedIn for company updates
• Check out our GitHub to contribute to our open source projects

Are there specific aspects of AI alignment you're struggling with in your development workflow? Drop into our Slack and share your challenges - we're all figuring this out together!

Happy composing! 🚀