Bug: Project Rules with RULE.md folder format not showing in Settings

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Project Rules with RULE.md folder format not working - Documentation issue or bug?

Summary

Project Rules using the folder-based RULE.md format (.cursor/rules/<folder>/RULE.md) are not recognized in Cursor 2.3.10, despite being documented as the recommended format since version 2.2.

Environment

  • Cursor Version:
Version: 2.3.10
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: af6d64e4848e6185e482a2de5bac040191c8d790
Date: 2025-12-29T03:56:22.219Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0

OS:

ProductName:            macOS
ProductVersion:         26.2
BuildVersion:           25C56
---
Darwin XIAOYUUYANG-MC0 25.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 25.2.0: Tue Nov 18 21:09:45 PST 2025; root:xnu-12377.61.12~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6030 arm64

Description

According to the official documentation, Project Rules should use the folder-based RULE.md format:

.cursor/rules/
  my-rule/
    RULE.md

The documentation states:

“Each rule corresponds to a folder containing a RULE.md file”

“Since version 2.2, .mdc rules are still available, but all new rules are created as folders in .cursor/rules”

However, my rule with this exact structure does not appear in Settings > Rules and is not applied to chat sessions(maybe).

My RULE.md

---
description: "HarmonyOS ArkTS 开发规范，包含组件库使用、UI开发范式、代码规范、工作流程和最佳实践"
globs: ["**/*.ets"]
alwaysApply: true
---
xxxxx
...

Question

Is the documentation outdated, or is this a bug in Cursor 2.3.10?

Workaround

Using RULES.mdc in the rules root works correctly.

Steps to Reproduce

see video
OR

  1. Create folder structure in project root:

    mkdir -p .cursor/rules/my-rule

  2. Create RULE.md file with valid frontmatter:

    touch .cursor/rules/my-rule/RULE.md

  3. Add the following content to RULE.md:

    ---
description: "Test rule description"
globs: ["**/*.ts"]
alwaysApply: true
---

# Test Rule
This is a test instruction.

  4. Restart Cursor completely (Cmd+Q, then reopen)

  5. Open Cursor Settings → Rules

  6. Expected: Rule “my-rule” should appear in Project Rules list

  7. Actual: Rule does not appear, and is not applied to chat sessions

Expected Behavior

RULE.md work

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.3.10
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: af6d64e4848e6185e482a2de5bac040191c8d790
Date: 2025-12-29T03:56:22.219Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

2

Hey, thanks for the report.

This is a known issue and we’re tracking it. You can follow the main thread here: Project Rules: Documented RULE.md folder format not working

For now, the reliable workaround is to use .mdc files directly in .cursor/rules/, as you’ve already found.

I’m closing this thread as a duplicate to keep the discussion in one place.