# How to ensure rules are applied?

**URL:** <https://forum.cursor.com/t/how-to-ensure-rules-are-applied/161256>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** rules\
**Created:** [May 21, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/how-to-ensure-rules-are-applied/161256 "2026-05-21T19:10:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![deanrie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/deanrie/32/1263_2.png) [@deanrie](https://forum.cursor.com/u/deanrie)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 8:02am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/how-to-ensure-rules-are-applied/161256/5 "2026-05-24T08:02:57Z")

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Hey, point by point.

Your rule with `alwaysApply: false` plus `globs: python3/**` is for Apply to Specific Files mode, docs [Rules | Cursor Docs](https://cursor.com/docs/rules). The idea is that the agent should pick it up when there is a file in context that matches the glob. In practice, glob-scoped rules are being picked up unreliably right now, and we’ve seen quite a few similar reports over the last couple of months:

- [Glob pattern rules are never respected by agent](https://forum.cursor.com/t/glob-pattern-rules-are-never-respected-by-agent/160133)
- [Cursor rules not getting applied](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-rules-not-getting-applied/158740)
- [`alwaysApply: true` rules are being completely ignored now](https://forum.cursor.com/t/alwaysapply-true-rules-are-being-completely-ignored-now/158551)

We’re tracking the issue, but I can’t share an ETA for a fix yet.

About how to check if a rule was actually used, there isn’t a reliable indicator in the UI right now. There’s an open feature request for that, [Show which rules are injected into prompts](https://forum.cursor.com/t/show-which-rules-are-injected-into-prompts/159235), feel free to subscribe and upvote.

Workarounds that tend to be more reliable:

- Set `alwaysApply: true` for critical rules like style, function limits, etc, so the rule content is guaranteed to go into the system prompt.
- Or manually @ mention the rule in chat when you’re working on that topic.

One more note: even when a rule is injected, different models handle rules differently. Some will mention a conflict like this goes against your rule, should I do it anyway. Others will just follow the request. So it’s still best to do a quick final check of the output yourself.

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