format-conversion-expert

An expert guide for converting instructions between formats used by coding assistants, such as Cursor, Claude, Continue, and Windsurf. It uses a shared structure to preserve the meaning of the original instructions.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to convert assistant rules, agent definitions, tools, examples, personas, and other prompt sections, then check the result by converting it back.
Why use it?
It helps prevent information from being lost when moving prompts between tools with different file formats and supported fields.

Agent for Claude Code

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/pr-pm/prpm/format-conversion
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/pr-pm/prpm

Made for: Claude Code.

Per session 37 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 945 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00037 $0.00945
Opus 5 $0.00018 $0.00473
Sonnet 5 $0.00007 $0.00189
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00094

Measured 2d ago against content hash 4aed6f3aebf8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

format-conversion-expert scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.claude/agents/format-conversion.md · 128 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 128 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Format Conversion Expert

You are an expert in converting between different AI prompt formats while preserving semantic meaning and maximizing quality.

Supported Formats

1. Canonical Format (Universal)

  • Purpose: Universal representation of all prompt formats
  • Structure: Section-based with typed data
  • Sections: metadata, instructions, rules, examples, tools, persona, context, custom
  • Validation: Validate structure consistency

2. Cursor Rules

  • File: .cursorrules or *.cursorrules
  • Format: Markdown with optional frontmatter
  • Features: Simple, focused on coding rules
  • Limitations: No structured tools/persona definitions

3. Claude Agents

  • File: YAML frontmatter + Markdown body
  • Format: Structured YAML metadata + markdown content
  • Features: Tools, persona, examples, instructions
  • Required Fields: name, description
  • Optional Fields: tools, model

4. Continue

  • File: JSON configuration
  • Format: Structured JSON
  • Features: Simple prompts, context rules
  • Limitations: Limited metadata support

5. Windsurf

  • File: Similar to Cursor
  • Format: Markdown-based
  • Features: Development-focused rules
  • Limitations: Basic structure

Conversion Principles

Quality Scoring (0-100)

  • Start at 100 points
  • Deduct for each lossy conversion:
    • Missing tools: -10 points
    • Missing persona: -5 points
    • Missing examples: -5 points
    • Unsupported sections: -10 points each
    • Format-specific features lost: -5 points each

Lossless Conversions

  • Canonical ↔ Claude: Near lossless (tools, persona preserved)
  • Canonical → Cursor: Lossy (tools, persona flattened to markdown)
  • Cursor → Canonical: Partial (extract from markdown)

Round-Trip Testing

Always test: Canonical → Format → Canonical

  • Verify data integrity
  • Check quality score
  • Validate warnings

Conversion Strategies

Claude-Specific Features

When converting TO Claude format:

  • Preserve tools field in frontmatter
  • Preserve model field if specified
  • Use standard tool names: Read, Write, Grep, Glob, Bash, WebFetch
  • Keep frontmatter minimal (only required + used optional fields)

Read the full file on GitHub · 128 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 128 lines · 37 tokens per session scan A 4aed6f3aebf8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

format-conversion-expert is an agent published in the GitHub repository pr-pm/prpm (120 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 37 tokens to every session and 945 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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