[ compare / cursor-rules-vs-agent-skills ]
Cursor rules vs Agent Skills
Teams often mix .cursor/rules, .mdc frontmatter, and Agent Skills. They solve related problems differently. Here’s a practical comparison — and where Codehabits fits.
Comparison table
| Dimension | Cursor rules (.cursor/rules) | Agent Skills |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Project or user markdown/MDC files Cursor injects as instructions | Packaged skill folders agents discover and load on demand |
| Scope | Cursor-specific paths and AlwaysApply / globs frontmatter | Cross-tool (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot, etc.) via shared conventions |
| Discovery | Always-on, glob-matched, agent-requested, or manual | Agent decides when the skill is relevant; not always in context |
| Maintenance | Hand-edited; drifts across teammates and forks | Versionable packages; can be generated and regenerated |
| Evidence | Whatever the author remembers to write | Can encode structured team intel (conventions, anti-patterns) |
| Best for | Personal prefs, path-specific Cursor behavior, quick local overrides | Shared team playbooks agents load when the task matches |
Verdict
Use Cursor rules for Cursor-specific attachment control. Use Agent Skills for portable team playbooks. Codehabits generates skills (and AGENTS.md) from PR history so the team playbook stays evidence-backed — and still works alongside your rules.
Choose Cursor rules (.cursor/rules) when…
- You need AlwaysApply or globs for specific Cursor paths
- Personal style prefs that shouldn’t be team policy
- Quick one-off constraints for a single session or branch
Choose Agent Skills when…
- Multiple agents (Cursor + Claude Code + Copilot) share one repo
- Conventions should come from review history, not memory
- You want skills regenerated after merges via sync/CI
Related
FAQ
- Should I delete my Cursor rules if I adopt Agent Skills?
- Not necessarily. Keep Cursor-specific attachment rules; move durable team conventions into skills (or let Codehabits generate them) so other tools benefit too.
- Does Codehabits write .cursor/rules for me?
- Codehabits focuses on Agent Skills, AGENTS.md, .codehabits/ JSON, and MCP — the portable team layer — rather than replacing every .mdc file.