Bootstrap Cursor skills

Add a Cursor Agent Skill so agents load specialized instructions only when the task matches—not on every chat.

Framing (taxonomy)

Vibe coding bootstrap (this is not a Business Bootstrap child page).

Install ladder for marketplace MCP + skills plugins

Studio MCP install strategies

Catalog

AI studio tooling catalog

In-repo shop (agent-rules; avoids duplicating this page)

skills/BOOTSTRAP.md · Agent Rules — Bootstrap Cursor skills

Choose an on-ramp

A. Configure it yourself

Use when you want exact control or the agent cannot write under ~/.cursor/.

  1. Create ~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/ (never under ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/—that tree is Cursor-managed).

  2. Add SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) and a short body.

  3. Put long directives in sibling files (news.md, blog.md, …) and link them from SKILL.md (progressive disclosure).

  4. Optionally keep a canonical copy in a git repo and junction/symlink into ~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/.

  5. Add at most a one-line pointer in User Rules / RULES.md if agents must discover the skill by name; do not paste the full curriculum into always-on rules.

  6. Start a new agent chat and confirm the skill appears / can be read.

B. Drop the recipe into a permissive agent

Use when the studio already allows the agent to edit the code hive and Cursor config.

Paste (or @-mention) something like:

Install a personal Cursor skill from these directives.
Keep the full text out of always-on User Rules.
Canonical path: <repo>/skills/<skill-name>/
Junction or copy to ~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/
Add only a thin pointer in RULES.md / documentation.md.
Follow create-skill guidance: description with WHAT + WHEN; progressive disclosure.

Then attach the source notes (export, gist, or chat). The agent should:

  1. Author SKILL.md + reference files

  2. Install into ~/.cursor/skills/

  3. Update thin pointers only

  4. Avoid dumping the body into the always-on User Rule paste

Same end state as on-ramp A.

Worked example: writing-news-vs-blog

Recorded from a session that turned a Gemini news-vs-blog style export into a durable skill next to agent-rules.

Goal

  • News body copy: inverted pyramid, neutral attribution, no editorializing

  • Blog body copy: thesis early, conversational authority, anti-slop hygiene

  • Keep house title stance (news outward / blog inward) in thin rules

  • Keep body directives in a skill so they stay out of always-on context

Steps taken

  1. Read the export and Cursor’s create-skill guidance (~/.cursor/skills-cursor/create-skill/SKILL.md is built-in reference; do not author there).

  2. Chose personal skill + versioned canonical copy, not a full paste into User Rules.

  3. Created canonical tree under the personal agent-rules fork::

    skills/writing-news-vs-blog/
  SKILL.md
  news.md
  blog.md
  published-sources.md

  4. Wrote SKILL.md as a mode router (news vs blog) with house stance and links to news.md / blog.md.

  5. Incorporated published suite pointers (claude-blog, marketingskills, Kimi anti-slop, news researcher/writer) into published-sources.md as optional reference—local directives win unless asked otherwise.

  6. Junctioned for Cursor discovery (Windows)::

    cmd /c mklink /J "$env:USERPROFILE\.cursor\skills\writing-news-vs-blog" `
  "C:\code\github.com\AMDphreak\.forks\agent-rules\skills\writing-news-vs-blog"

  7. Added thin pointers only:

    • general/documentation.md — body-copy section pointing at the skill

    • general/global.md — optional skill note (like talk-normal)

    • RULES.md / Cursor User Rule — one AI-ops line: skill path; do not paste full directives

    • MAIN.md — note that skills/ is not part of MAIN context assembly

  8. Left existing title guidance (news outward / blog inward) in Docs rules unchanged aside from the pointer.

Layout reminder

Location Role

~/.cursor/skills/<name>/

What Cursor discovers (junction or copy)

agent-rules/skills/<name>/ (or other repo)

Canonical, reviewable, shareable

User Rules / RULES.md

One-line pointer at most

~/.cursor/skills-cursor/

Built-in Cursor skills — do not author here

Verify

  1. New agent chat.

  2. Ask for a short news ship note and a short blog lede on the same topic.

  3. Confirm the agent reads writing-news-vs-blog (or follows its directives) and the modes differ (no you / first person in news; thesis and you allowed in blog).

Skills vs always-on rules (checklist)

  • Curriculum lives under skills/, not in the User Rule paste

  • description states WHAT and WHEN (third person)

  • Long material is one level deep from SKILL.md

  • Titles / constants that must always apply stay in thin rules

  • Published upstream suites are cited as optional, not silently overriding house STYLE

See also