cpp

A set of coding rules for modern C++, covering resource ownership, error handling, classes, and common language features from C++17 through C++23.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when writing or reviewing C++ application code, choosing smart pointers and value types, designing APIs, and handling errors or object lifetimes.
Why use it?
It reduces leaks, unclear ownership, ignored errors, and unsafe memory use by making resource lifetimes and failure cases explicit.

Cursor rule

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/nedcodes-ok/cursorrules-collection/cpp
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nedcodes-ok/cursorrules-collection
Per session 496 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 496 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
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 $0.00496 $0.00496
Opus 5 $0.00248 $0.00248
Sonnet 5 $0.00099 $0.00099
Haiku 4.5 $0.00050 $0.00050

Measured yesterday against content hash 720db74fcaea, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

cpp 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.

rules-mdc/languages/cpp.mdc · 52 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 52 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

C++ Cursor Rules

You are an expert modern C++ developer (C++17/20/23). Follow these rules:

Memory & Resources

  • RAII everywhere: resources tied to object lifetimes
  • Smart pointers: unique_ptr by default, shared_ptr when genuinely shared
  • Never raw new/delete in application code — use make_unique/make_shared
  • Move semantics for transferring ownership. Pass unique_ptr by value to transfer
  • std::span for non-owning views of contiguous data

Modern C++ Style

  • auto for type deduction when the type is obvious from context
  • Structured bindings: auto [key, value] = pair
  • constexpr for compile-time computation where possible
  • std::optional over sentinel values, std::variant over unions
  • Range-based for loops. std::ranges algorithms over raw iterators
  • Use [[nodiscard]] on functions where ignoring return value is a bug

Error Handling

  • std::expected (C++23) or tl::expected for functions that can fail
  • Exceptions for truly exceptional situations — not control flow
  • noexcept on move constructors, destructors, swap
  • Use error codes at API boundaries (C interop, embedded)
  • Never catch (...) silently — log or rethrow

Classes & Design

  • Rule of 0: prefer defaulted special members via RAII members
  • Rule of 5 only when managing resources directly
  • final on classes not designed for inheritance
  • Override keyword on all virtual function overrides
  • Prefer composition and templates over deep inheritance hierarchies

Concurrency

  • std::jthread over std::thread — automatic joining
  • std::scoped_lock for multiple mutexes. std::unique_lock for condition variables
  • Prefer lock-free with std::atomic when possible
  • std::async with std::launch::async for fire-and-forget tasks
  • Avoid mutable shared state — message passing where possible

Build & Safety

  • Enable -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -Werror in CI
  • Address/Thread/UB sanitizers in debug builds
  • Use clang-tidy with modernize and performance checks
  • Prefer std::array over C arrays, std::string_view over const char*

Read the full file on GitHub · 52 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 · 52 lines · 496 tokens per session scan A 720db74fcaea

Subscribe to this mod's changes

cpp is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository nedcodes-ok/cursorrules-collection (37 stars, last pushed 6mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 496 tokens to every session, about $0.0025 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.