Currently rule files for system instruction, and skills for conditional instruction. Still i need rule files in additional agents.md? When to use both?
.cursor/rules provides static context that shapes every conversation, like an “always-on” system instructions.
Cursor evaluates rules in four priority modes:
- Always (injected into every context)
- Auto Attached (triggered by glob file patterns)
- Agent Requested (AI decides based on relevance)
- Manual (explicitly included with
@ruleName).
It’s a conditional instruction system with metadata control.
AGENTS.md is for straightforward use cases, without metadata or complex configurations. It’s a plain markdown file without metadata or complex configurations, great for projects that need simple, readable instructions without the overhead of structured rules. Cursor supports AGENTS.md in the project root and subdirectories. Because AGENTS.md targets multiple tools, you can’t use tool-specific features in it.
TL;DR: AGENTS.md is a simplified, tool-agnostic alternative to .cursor/rules (not a replacement). Keep your .cursor/rules for anything requiring conditional triggers, glob matching, or alwaysApply. Add AGENTS.md only if you need cross-tool portability.
Sources: Cursor official docs, Cursor agent best practices blog.
Thanks a lot, now i understand