Project Conventions & CURSOR.md Standards

What it does

Project Conventions & CURSOR.md Standards is a Cursor skill: a SKILL.md playbook that AgenticKit installs at .cursor/skills/project-conventions. Cursor's agent loads it when the task matches the skill description, instead of stuffing the same rules into every chat.

Structuring modern TypeScript repositories with clear directory boundaries, clean import aliases, lint configs, and automated CURSOR.md synchronization.

Repository structure, naming conventions, import aliases, and rules sync. The file is domain knowledge, not a slash macro. You do not type it. The agent reads it when the job is project conventions.

Why it exists

Default Cursor has no memory of how your team ships code, schema, and tests. Founders paste the same conventions into chat, then watch the model drift on the next turn. This skill exists so those conventions live on disk and load only when relevant.

It ships in the Engineering Kit. It is wired to the Technical Lead & System Architect (tech-lead) and Senior Code Reviewer (code-reviewer) agents. It is wired to the /audit: Codebase Quality & Security Auditor and /ship: End-to-End Feature Pipeline Shipper commands. That graph is the point: the skill is the standard, the agent is the role, the command is the trigger.

When to use it

• Use Project Conventions & CURSOR.md Standards when the work is specifically about repository structure, naming conventions, import aliases, and rules sync.
• Load it before a long session that will touch this surface more than once. A one-line edit does not need the full playbook.
• Use it on production SaaS work (multi-tenant apps, paid features, anything that will be reviewed) rather than a throwaway prototype.

When not to use it

• Do not treat the skill as a replacement for a slash command. Skills teach. Commands run a pipeline.
• Do not paste the whole SKILL.md into chat. If Cursor is not loading it, fix the description or invoke the matching command.
• Do not use it as a generic 'write better code' rule. Scope is this domain only.

Example workflow

1. Install the Engineering Kit so .cursor/skills/project-conventions lands in the repo.
2. Open a new Cursor agent chat pointed at the files this skill governs.
3. Ask the Technical Lead & System Architect (tech-lead) to read the skill, or run /audit: Codebase Quality & Security Auditor.
4. Review the first artifact against the practices below. If it violates one, stop and correct the file. Do not prompt 'just finish it'.
5. Commit the skill-guided files with the rest of the slice so the next session inherits the same standard.

Example usage

Example prompt: "Read .cursor/skills/project-conventions and apply it to this change. Do not invent extra conventions."

Or trigger the pipeline: /audit: Codebase Quality & Security Auditor. That command is written to load this skill.

Check the output against: Maintain an up-to-date CURSOR.md file at the repository root describing conventions

Example output

• The skill itself does not write a single output file. It changes what the agent is allowed to produce in code, schema, and tests.
• When you run /audit: Codebase Quality & Security Auditor, expect repo files plus notes under docs/, not a chat-only answer.

Best practices

• Maintain an up-to-date CURSOR.md file at the repository root describing conventions
• Use TypeScript path aliases (@/components, @/lib, @/types) for clean imports
• Enforce consistent file naming (PascalCase for React components, kebab-case for utilities)
• Automate codebase indexing and rules synchronization using agentickit sync

Common mistakes

• Ignoring "Maintain an up-to-date CURSOR.md file at the repository root describing conventions" and hoping a later prompt will clean it up.
• Copying the skill into .cursor/rules as always-on. That burns context and fights Cursor's load-on-match design.
• Running two overlapping skills that contradict each other in the same turn.
• Letting the agent skip tests or types because 'the skill is about architecture'.