I am using Cursor 2.3.35. When I use “New Cursor Rule“, it creates a SKILL.md in .cursor/skills. Same happens when adding new project rules from the “Cursor Settings“ panel. Previously it used to create .mdc files in .cursor/rules folder.
Is this the expected behavior? When I go to Cursor docs, it still claims that “Agent Skills are only available in the nightly release channel“. Yet it seems the default option now when using the stable version.
Also I’m a bit confused here. What is the difference between rules and skills? Is Cursor rule deprecated now in favor of skills?
Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue. When you create a Project Rule, instead of RULE.md in .cursor/rules, it creates SKILL.md in .cursor/skills. The team is working on a fix.
The bug is tied to specific accounts. Some users see the “Import Agent Skills” option in Cursor Settings > Rules, Commands. If you log out, rules get created correctly.
About the difference between Rules and Skills:
Rules (.cursor/rules/RULE.md):
System instructions for the Agent
4 apply modes: Always Apply, Apply Intelligently, Apply to Specific Files, Apply Manually
For project-specific context, code standards, and workflow
Agent Skills (.cursor/skills/SKILL.md):
An open standard for portable skills
Work like “agent-decided rules”. The agent decides when to apply them based on context
Not ready for production yet, still in beta
Skills don’t replace Rules. They’re meant to coexist and solve different problems.
Can you check if you have the “Import Agent Skills” option in settings? That would help confirm the issue is tied to your account.
Same problem here. Logging out and restarting didn’t fix it, and manually creating the project rules doesn’t seem to work either, apparently they are ignored.