Cursor IDE - Customize > USER Rules not displayed

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Accessing Cursor Preferences > Customize > Rules
does not show rules present in c:\Users\xxxx.cursor\rules

Steps to Reproduce

Access Cursor Preferences > Customize > Rules
does not show rules present in c:\Users\xxxx.cursor\rules

Expected Behavior

show rules present in c:\Users\xxxx.cursor\rules

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.17.21 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: 8f2a112cb2845a97b75fd932ea5c470579ca4060
Date: 2026-08-25T01:05:08.089Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

7

Hey @fmancardi, thanks for the report.

You’re right that Customize > Rules does not list the .mdc files in C:\Users\<you>\.cursor\rules. That is not something you misconfigured. Cursor only discovers .cursor/rules by walking up from the folder you opened. Home-level files are picked up only if that folder sits inside your user profile. If it does not, they stay off the Customize list and are not applied.

For rules that should apply everywhere, add them under Customize > Rules > User Rules. Those show in the list and apply across projects: Rules | Cursor Docs

Project-specific files can stay in <project>\.cursor\rules.

We’ve let the team know about loading the home-level folder globally and showing it in Customize. I’ll post here when I have an update.

8

Thansk for your reply.
One question regarding

I’ve tried but

  • this does not allow me to import a existent .mdc file, I need to copy the content.

Are this rules saved in some folder inside C:\Users\\.cursor ??

Regards