readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file

readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file is a cursor rule for Cursor from PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules. It costs 238 tokens per session, scanned A, original, CC0-1.0.

A set of rules for writing README files that explain a project quickly and clearly. A README is the main guide users see in a code repository.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when creating or reviewing project READMEs, quick-start instructions, code examples, feature tables, screenshots, and author sections.
Why use it?
It helps readers understand the project and start using it without searching through the repository. It also keeps examples, feature descriptions, and referenced assets accurate and easy to scan.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Written for Cursor: a Cursor rule (.mdc). Also seen: mentions Cursor.

Good fit Use it when creating or reviewing project READMEs, quick-start instructions, code examples, feature tables, screenshots, and author sections.

Compare 6 cursor rules from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file
About the project

PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules is a collection of Markdown rule files that give Cursor AI editor project-specific instructions about code, frameworks, workflows, and standards. Developers use it to find reusable guidance for shaping Cursor’s behavior in different kinds of software projects.

PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules · 40,734 stars · on GitHub

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.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules

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 readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/patrickjs/awesome-cursorrules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 238 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 238 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 $0.00238 $0.00238
Opus 5 $0.00119 $0.00119
Sonnet 5 $0.00048 $0.00048
Haiku 4.5 $0.00024 $0.00024

Measured 4d ago against content hash 3f65a946db00, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file 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 4d 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.

rules/readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file.mdc · 17 lines

What it actually says

Write READMEs like landing pages, not API docs. The reader decides in 3-5 seconds.

Start with a bold one-liner saying what it does and why someone should care. Not "A tool that..." - a punchline. Put a working code example in the first 5 lines. Show the value prop immediately. Use feature tables (two columns) instead of Feature: bullet lists. Tables scan faster. Quick Start must be copy-paste ready. No $ prefix on bash commands. Zero to running in 30 seconds. Vary sentence lengths and structure. Mix one-liners with short paragraphs and tables. Not walls of same-length bullets. Never use "seamless", "robust", "comprehensive", "cutting-edge", or other AI marketing words. Never open with "In today's..." or close with "Happy coding!" Check that referenced assets (demo.gif, screenshots) actually exist on disk before adding image links. Author section should include a visual card or badge, not just plain text "Made by username".

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. 4d ago First seen · 17 lines · 238 tokens per session scan A 3f65a946db00

Subscribe to this mod's changes

readme-best-practices-cursorrules-prompt-file is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules (40,734 stars, last pushed 3mo ago), licensed CC0-1.0. It adds 238 tokens to every session, about $0.0012 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 2026-09-03.