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). Standing up a GitHub organization is Fast org bootstrap (skill bootstrap-org).

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 + trigger-word description, not a lay blurb). Cursor create-skill is layout only; skill write-a-skill wins on matching. Body = how.

  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.
YAML description = trigger words (utterances, filenames, task phrases), not a lay blurb. Skill write-a-skill. create-skill is layout / progressive disclosure only.

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 and writing-blog

Separate skills — one per job — with descriptions that trigger on news work vs blog work. Canonical copies live in dev-centr/agent-rules/skills/.

Goal

  • News body: inverted pyramid, neutral attribution, outward shared record

  • Blog body: thesis early, conversational authority, inward framing

  • Titles stay in thin rules (general/documentation.md, org agents/editorial/titles.md)

  • Bodies in skills so they stay out of always-on context

Layout

skills/writing-news/
  SKILL.md
  body.md
skills/writing-blog/
  SKILL.md
  body.md

Each SKILL.md description lists trigger words (third person: utterances, filenames, task phrases) so Cursor matches the job—not a lay summary of the skill, and not a combined router. Capability rules stay in the body. Authoring: skill write-a-skill.

Junction (Windows)

$base = "$env:code\github.com\dev-centr\agent-rules\skills"
cmd /c mklink /J "$env:USERPROFILE\.cursor\skills\writing-news" "$base\writing-news"
cmd /c mklink /J "$env:USERPROFILE\.cursor\skills\writing-blog" "$base\writing-blog"

Verify

  1. New agent chat.

  2. Ask for a short news ship note — should use writing-news.

  3. Ask for a short blog lede on the same topic — should use writing-blog.

  4. Modes differ: no first person in news; thesis and you allowed in blog.

Removed pattern: writing-news-vs-blog router skill — split into two skills instead.

Skills vs always-on rules (checklist)

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

  • description is trigger words only (third person), not a lay summary of the skill

  • 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