kickoff-branch

kickoff-branch is a cursor rule for Cursor from danielvm-git/bigpowers. It costs 31 tokens per session (1,585 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A starting-work guide that creates an isolated Git branch and worktree, or a separate Jujutsu workspace, and checks that the existing code passes its tests first.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it before beginning a feature, fix, or other task that should have its own workspace and verified starting point.
Why use it?
It keeps a new task separate from unrelated changes and prevents development from starting on a failing baseline. Git worktrees let one repository have multiple working directories at once.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Written for Cursor: installed under .cursor/. Also seen: mentions CLAUDE.md; positional $N argument; mentions AGENTS.md.

Needs its repository: it runs a file that does not travel with it, so clone the repository first. The line is npm run compliance && bash scripts/run-verification-gates.sh.

Good fit Use it before beginning a feature, fix, or other task that should have its own workspace and verified starting point.

Compare 6 cursor rules from other repositories ↓
Install

Getting it into your agent

It runs from inside its repository, so the clone comes first — what it calls does not travel with the file alone.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/danielvm-git/bigpowers
agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch

Made for: Cursor.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for kickoff-branch

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for kickoff-branch

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/danielvm-git/bigpowers/kickoff-branch.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 31 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,585 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
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 5.1 $0.00031 $0.01585
Opus 5.5 $0.00012 $0.00634
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00006 $0.00317
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00159

Measured 1mo ago against content hash f75049567414, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

kickoff-branch 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 1mo 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.

.cursor/rules/kickoff-branch.mdc · 148 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 148 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

story: e51s03

story: e20s03

story: e82s02

Kickoff Branch

HARD GATE — Direct Git work on main/master or reuse of an unrelated Jujutsu change is prohibited. Create a feature branch/worktree or Jujutsu workspace/change.

HARD GATE — Do NOT proceed with development until Preflight passes on the default branch. Red Preflight blocks branch creation and all forward work — invoke quick-fix or fix-bug per CONVENTIONS § Discovered Defects.

Create an isolated Git worktree or Jujutsu workspace before code. Preflight must be green first — solo-default owns the whole tree.

Process

1. Confirm task name

Ask if not already known: "What's the name of this feature or task?" Use it as the branch name slug (kebab-case, max 40 chars).

2. Select the VCS procedure

Read state.yaml vcs.kind. For jj, do not run the Git blocks below: verify with jj status and jj log -r '::@' -n 5, create isolation with jj workspace add ../<task-slug> -r @, then run jj -R ../<task-slug> describe -m "feat: <task>". Record the new stable change ID. For git, continue below.

2a. Anchor Git on the default branch (main or master)

HARD GATE — Git kickoff MUST start from an updated, clean default branch in the primary repository root (not a linked worktree).

# Detect default branch
DEFAULT=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@' || echo main)

git checkout "$DEFAULT"
git pull --ff-only origin "$DEFAULT"   # skip if no remote
git status                             # working tree MUST be clean
git log --oneline -5

Spec-only pre-kickoff — before enforcing the clean-tree gate, check whether dirty files are spec artifacts:

DIRTY=$(git status --porcelain | awk '{print $2}')
NON_SPEC=$(echo "$DIRTY" | grep -v '^specs/' || true)

if [ -z "$DIRTY" ]; then
  : # clean — proceed
elif [ -z "$NON_SPEC" ]; then
  # spec-only dirty tree — offer auto-commit
  echo "Dirty spec artifacts: $(echo $DIRTY | tr '\n' ' ')"
  read -p "Commit spec artifacts before kickoff? [Y/n]: " CONFIRM
  CONFIRM=${CONFIRM:-Y}
  if [[ "$CONFIRM" =~ ^[Yy] ]]; then
    git add specs/
    git commit -m "chore(state): checkpoint before kickoff"
  fi
else
  echo "Dirty tree: $NON_SPEC (not a spec artifact). Stash or commit before proceeding."
  exit 1
fi

Read the full file on GitHub · 148 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. 1mo ago First seen · 148 lines · 31 tokens per session scan A f75049567414

Subscribe to this mod's changes

kickoff-branch is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository danielvm-git/bigpowers (267 stars, last pushed 27d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 31 tokens to every session and 1,585 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5.5. 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 2026-09-03.