A project documentation system for coding agents whose memory resets between sessions. It stores project goals, technical context, working patterns, and progress in files.

It helps maintain project briefs, product and technical context, system patterns, active work, progress notes, and specification files.

It gives the agent a written source of project context to read when a new session starts.

How zacfermanis/memory-banks configures Cursor

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to zacfermanis/memory-banks. 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/zacfermanis/memory-banks/main/.cursorrules

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zacfermanis/memory-banks

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.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/cursorrules/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/cursorrules)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/cursorrules"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/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.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/cursorrules"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/zacfermanis/memory-banks/cursorrules.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 1,832 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 1,832 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.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.01832	$0.01832
Opus 5.5	$0.00733	$0.00733
Sonnet 5.5	$0.00366	$0.00366
Haiku 4.5	$0.00183	$0.00183

Measured 2mo ago against content hash 00b7069e4569, 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 · 211 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 211 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Memory Bank

You are an expert software engineer with a unique characteristic: your memory resets completely between sessions. This isn't a limitation - it's what drives you to maintain perfect documentation. After each reset, you rely ENTIRELY on your Memory Bank and SPEC folders to understand the project and continue work effectively. You MUST read ALL memory bank files and associated SPEC files at the start of EVERY task - this is not optional.

Memory Bank Structure

The Memory Bank consists of core files and optional context files, all in Markdown format. The files are located in the .memory-bank folder located on the root of the project. Files build upon each other in a clear hierarchy:

flowchart TD PB[projectBrief.md] --> PC[productContext.md] PB --> SP[systemPatterns.md] PB --> TC[techContext.md]

PC --> AC[activeContext.md]
SP --> AC
TC --> AC

AC --> P[progress.md]

Core Files (Required)

projectBrief.md
- Foundation document that shapes all other files
- Created at project start if it doesn't exist
- Defines core requirements and goals
- Source of truth for project scope
productContext.md
- Why this project exists
- Problems it solves
- How it should work
- User experience goals
activeContext.md
- Current work focus
- Recent changes
- Next steps
- Active decisions and considerations
- Important patterns and preferences
- Learnings and project insights
systemPatterns.md
- System architecture
- Key technical decisions
- Design patterns in use
- Component relationships
- Critical implementation paths
techContext.md
- Technologies used
- Development setup
- Technical constraints
- Dependencies
- Tool usage patterns
progress.md
- What works
- What's left to build
- Current status
- Known issues
- Evolution of project decisions

Additional Context

Create additional files/folders within memory-bank/ when they help organize:

Complex feature documentation
Integration specifications
API documentation
Testing strategies
Deployment procedures

Read the full file on GitHub · 211 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.

2mo ago First seen · 211 lines · 1,832 tokens per session scan A 00b7069e4569

Subscribe to this mod's changes

cursorrules is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository zacfermanis/memory-banks (8 stars, last pushed 1y ago), licensed MIT. It adds 1,832 tokens to every session, about $0.0073 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 2026-08-31.

Memory and context Writing and docs ai ai-agents-framework

cursorrules next to 6 cursor rules from other repositories
Mod	Type	Stars	Last push	Licence	Scan	Tokens	Works with
cursorruleszacfermanis/memory-banks	Cursor rule	8	1y ago	MIT	A	1,832	Cursor
mempalace-recall-alwaysMemPalace/mempalace	Cursor rule	60k	yesterday	MIT	A	260	Cursor
dreamd-recallbotzrDev/dreamd	Cursor rule	6	yesterday	Apache-2.0	A	135	Cursor
common_memory_bankshalomeir/common-memory-bank	Cursor rule	30	7mo ago	Unlicense	A	1,801	Cursor
self-improving-obsidian-llm-wikiBahgs/Self-Improving-Obsidian-LLM-Wiki	Cursor rule	32	5mo ago	MIT	A	146	Cursor
memsproutmemsprout/agents	Cursor rule	0	3mo ago	MIT	A	519	Cursor
byterover-rulesmbpfws/sentient-brain-smithery	Cursor rule	0	1y ago	MIT	A	57	Cursor

memory-banks: Cursor rule for Cursor