dependency_installation

A rule that tells an agent to install missing software packages when code or scripts need them. It covers common package managers such as npm and pip.

In plain words
What is it for?
Detecting missing dependencies, choosing the project’s package manager, installing what is needed, and checking that the installation works.
Why use it?
It removes setup interruptions caused by missing libraries or command-line tools during development work.

Cursor rule for Cursor

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 rules/markmhendrickson/foundation/dependency_installation
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/markmhendrickson/foundation

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 28 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,024 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 $0.00028 $0.01024
Opus 5 $0.00014 $0.00512
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00205
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00102

Measured yesterday against content hash b9aa251607ea, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

dependency_installation 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 yesterday.

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/dependency_installation.mdc · 147 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 147 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Dependency Installation Rule

Ensures agents automatically install required dependencies when needed to fulfill prompts.

Rule

Always install required dependencies as needed to fulfill prompts.

When implementing features, fixing bugs, or making changes that require dependencies:

  1. Detect missing dependencies - Identify when code requires packages, tools, or libraries that are not installed
  2. Install automatically - Install dependencies without asking for permission
  3. Use appropriate package manager - Use the correct package manager for the project (npm, yarn, pip, etc.)
  4. Verify installation - Confirm dependencies are installed and accessible before proceeding

When This Applies

  • When adding new imports that require packages not in package.json, requirements.txt, or equivalent
  • When using tools or commands that require installation (e.g., npx, pip install)
  • When code references libraries that are not currently installed
  • When running scripts that depend on external tools
  • When setting up development environments

Agent Actions

1. Detect Missing Dependencies

Before implementing code that requires dependencies:

  • Check if imports reference packages not in dependency files
  • Verify tools/commands are available before use
  • Identify missing runtime dependencies

2. Install Dependencies

Install using the appropriate method:

Node.js/TypeScript projects:

npm install <package-name>
# or for dev dependencies
npm install --save-dev <package-name>

Python projects:

pip install <package-name>
# or
pip install -r requirements.txt

Other package managers:

  • Use the project's configured package manager
  • Follow project conventions for dependency management

3. Update Dependency Files

After installing:

  • Update package.json, requirements.txt, or equivalent dependency files
  • Include version specifications when appropriate
  • Separate dev dependencies from production dependencies

Read the full file on GitHub · 147 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. yesterday First seen · 147 lines · 28 tokens per session scan A b9aa251607ea

Subscribe to this mod's changes

dependency_installation is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository markmhendrickson/foundation (2 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 28 tokens to every session and 1,024 once invoked, about $0.0001 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 2026-08-31.