I used to ask agent to update .cursorrules and it worked nicely, got really good rules set up super fast, but after update to .cursor/rules logics agent is not able to update the rules files any more. Anyone else having the same issue? Did I missed something in docs?

yes yes - copying is possible. Would be great to have Cursor update the files directly :smiley: Until then I will still use .cursorrules

would you mind sharing the header part of the modified mdc file (you can change the text but the key part of key: value would be helpful) to see why it doesnt work?

I’m really surprised this isn’t being seen as a large issue. This tells me either 1. not many people are using the new .cursor/rules or 2. Not many people utilize a self-improving loop

Just two or three days using it and it’s like you say. I think it has to do with the rare description and file pattern at the top of the file. I don’t like that and I believe that’s making the agent go numb on the file, hope they fix it soon, it’s annoying

[image] As you can see - Composer happiky reports it added ■■■■0! to my-custom-rule.mdc, while actually nothing is added.

You may want to give it a template to follow?

I’m not sure what you mean by templates. But I’m quite used to asking Composer (agent mode) to update .cursorrules. For example - if it finally solves some issue it struggles with I usually ask - “write the solution down to .cursorrules file so that you dont forget it next time.” It works for stand…

What you mean? The IDE literally cannot access the rules to be modified. I believe is an IDE problem more than an agent…

Its not a good idea to update .cursorrules file by AI. Well, there is no need for that and it will not do the right thing if there is too much in there. .cursor/rules/ .mdc files have a structure (header). Create one manually then use it as a template for AI to create new ones. thats wht i meant wi…

Once you create a rule_name.mdc under .cursor/rules, the interface change to input the description and globs, you can try that way or you can try the other way (manually), none works. And as an extra information, once you create a .mdc file under .cursor/rules and populate a description It becomes …

Enable agent to update .cursor/rules

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theosp (Daniel C - from JustDo.com - A Vibe Coder - Building the Vibe Coders Project Management Platform) March 22, 2025, 10:50am 21

I posted a post with a detailed fix here: Vibe Coding Disrupted in Cursor v0.47.8? Here’s the Fix!

Topic		Replies	Views
Cursor agent cannot write to .cursor/rules (even to *.mdc files) Bug Reports	6	409	May 7, 2025
Cursor agent cannot write to .cursor/rules files Bug Reports	10	1504	April 20, 2025
Agent not editing rule files Bug Reports	11	561	April 20, 2025
Cursor rules are not updated within agent mode Bug Reports	3	199	April 23, 2025
Agent can't access .cursor/rules folder to modify them Bug Reports	2	209	April 22, 2025

Enable agent to update .cursor/rules

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