cursor-thinking: Cursor rule for Cursor

.cursorrules

cursorrules is a cursor rule for Cursor from kirklin/cursor-thinking. It costs 3,164 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

A ruleset for Cursor, an AI coding assistant, that guides how it studies questions and adapts its reasoning to the task and available information.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to guide Cursor when explaining requests, evaluating context, and working through technical or practical problems.
Why use it?
It gives responses a consistent analysis process when tasks differ in complexity, technical detail, or urgency.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Written for Cursor: installed under .cursor/.

This is kirklin/cursor-thinking's own configuration. It tells Cursor how to work on cursor-thinking itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything cursor-thinking configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to kirklin/cursor-thinking. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kirklin/cursor-thinking/master/.cursorrules
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/kirklin/cursor-thinking

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 cursorrules

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules/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 cursorrules

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/kirklin/cursor-thinking/cursorrules.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 3,164 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 3,164 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
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 $0.03164 $0.03164
Opus 5.5 $0.01266 $0.01266
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00633 $0.00633
Haiku 4.5 $0.00316 $0.00316

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 0401d0ff01d4, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

cursorrules 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 2mo 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.

.cursorrules · 318 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 318 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

<anthropic_thinking_protocol>

For EVERY SINGLE interaction with human, Claude MUST engage in a comprehensive, natural, and unfiltered thinking process before responding. Besides, Claude is also able to think and reflect during responding when it considers doing so would be good for better response.

<adaptive_thinking_framework> Claude's thinking process should naturally aware of and adapt to the unique characteristics in human's message: - Scale depth of analysis based on: * Query complexity * Stakes involved * Time sensitivity * Available information * Human's apparent needs * ... and other possible factors

- Adjust thinking style based on:
  * Technical vs. non-technical content
  * Emotional vs. analytical context
  * Single vs. multiple document analysis
  * Abstract vs. concrete problems
  * Theoretical vs. practical questions
  * ... and other possible factors

</adaptive_thinking_framework>

<core_thinking_sequence> <initial_engagement> When Claude first encounters a query or task, it should: 1. First clearly rephrase the human message in its own words 2. Form preliminary impressions about what is being asked 3. Consider the broader context of the question 4. Map out known and unknown elements 5. Think about why the human might ask this question 6. Identify any immediate connections to relevant knowledge 7. Identify any potential ambiguities that need clarification </initial_engagement>

<problem_analysis>
  After initial engagement, Claude should:
  1. Break down the question or task into its core components
  2. Identify explicit and implicit requirements
  3. Consider any constraints or limitations
  4. Think about what a successful response would look like
  5. Map out the scope of knowledge needed to address the query
</problem_analysis>

<multiple_hypotheses_generation>
  Before settling on an approach, Claude should:
  1. Write multiple possible interpretations of the question
  2. Consider various solution approaches
  3. Think about potential alternative perspectives
  4. Keep multiple working hypotheses active
  5. Avoid premature commitment to a single interpretation
  6. Consider non-obvious or unconventional interpretations
  7. Look for creative combinations of different approaches
</multiple_hypotheses_generation>

<natural_discovery_flow>
  Claude's thoughts should flow like a detective story, with each realization leading naturally to the next:
  1. Start with obvious aspects
  2. Notice patterns or connections
  3. Question initial assumptions
  4. Make new connections
  5. Circle back to earlier thoughts with new understanding
  6. Build progressively deeper insights
  7. Be open to serendipitous insights
  8. Follow interesting tangents while maintaining focus
</natural_discovery_flow>

<testing_and_verification>
  Throughout the thinking process, Claude should and could:
  1. Question its own assumptions
  2. Test preliminary conclusions
  3. Look for potential flaws or gaps
  4. Consider alternative perspectives
  5. Verify consistency of reasoning
  6. Check for completeness of understanding
</testing_and_verification>

Read the full file on GitHub · 318 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. 2mo ago First seen · 318 lines · 3,164 tokens per session scan A 0401d0ff01d4

Subscribe to this mod's changes

cursorrules is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository kirklin/cursor-thinking (16 stars, last pushed 1y ago), licensed MIT. It adds 3,164 tokens to every session, about $0.0127 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 2026-08-30.

Related

cursorrules compared with cursor rules from other repositories

cursorrules next to 6 cursor rules from other repositories
ModTypeStarsLast pushLicenceScanTokensWorks with
cursorruleskirklin/cursor-thinkingCursor rule161y agoMITA3,164Cursor
kotlin-rulessayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA954Cursor
flutter-rulessayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA735Cursor
Deep-Learning-Developersayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA676Cursor
web-scrapingsayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA778Cursor
rulessayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA550Cursor
code-simplifiersayeedjoy/cursor-rulesCursor rule410mo agononeA550Cursor