Make it stick

The people who keep Cursor do not have a prettier theme. They have a loop they will actually run on a Thursday when they are tired.

I wanted the fancy version. I wanted a wall of rules on night three. Official docs even say models do not retain memory between completions, which is why rules exist. I still wrote too many on the same night, and Agent started sounding like a policy wiki that had never met my repo.

Habit first. Configuration after the habit fails the same way twice.

This is step 5. The earlier ones were install, one problem, show it the files, and when it goes wrong. If you skipped the sentence, You dont need another tool is still the first page.

The loop: ask, check, commit

Ask for one change. Check the diff. Commit if you would keep it from a coworker.

That is the system. I do not commit the chat. I commit the files. If I cannot write a commit message without looking at the agent's summary, I did not check. The summary will say it improved the auth flow. The commit should say it guards the dashboard route when the session user is missing.

When I skip the commit I get brave. Brave is how a good fix and a drive-by rename land together. Then I cannot revert the rename without losing the fix. Checkpoints help inside the session. Git helps after I close the laptop.

I run this loop on tiny stuff. Copy change. CSS. One test. The loop is the point, not the size. Once it is boring I trust myself with a Plan mode change.

Ask is Cmd+I and a sentence plus an @ file if I have one. Check is the diff, not the vibe of the reply. Commit is me, in the terminal or the source control panel, writing a line I will understand in a week.

If I would not merge the diff from a stranger, I do not keep it from Agent. That rule has saved me more than any setting.

Rules, when you have earned them

Rules are real in the 2026 docs. They are how you give Agent the same instructions next time without typing them.

Project rules live in .cursor/rules as .mdc files and you check them into git. You can also put a plain AGENTS.md in the project root if you do not want the extra format. User rules live in Customize, then Rules, and they follow you across projects. Team rules exist on Team and Enterprise plans. I have not needed those at home.

You create one from Customize in the sidebar, or you ask Agent to make a rule and describe it. There are flavors: always apply, apply when Agent thinks it is relevant, apply to a glob of files, or only when you mention the rule.

Official advice that matched my scars: keep them short, add them when Agent repeats a mistake, do not paste your whole style guide. Start simple.

The first rule I still have is boring.

Do not add new auth helpers. Do not rename files I did not name. Prefer editing the file I mentioned. If you are unsure, ask.

The second one is about package managers because it kept using the wrong one in this repo. After I wrote that down I stopped having the argument.

I do not use rules for tone in week one. I type it if I care. User rules can hold that later. They apply to Agent chat, not to inline edit, which I learned the slow way.

I am not hanging week one on memories. Official docs talk about memories in automations, notes an agent can keep across those runs. For the editor, the documented persistence is rules. If you want the next chat to know how this repo installs packages, put it in a rule or say it again. Hoping it just remembers is how I got a second lockfile on a Friday.

What I actually keep open

One folder. One chat per task. Agent panel on the side. Diff visible. Terminal if I asked it to run tests.

I do not keep a marketplace tour going while I am still learning the loop. Customize can wait. Plugins can wait. The official customize page is a lot. It is for after you know what you keep typing.

I do keep a note, sometimes just in the PR, of a prompt that worked. Use the existing filter component, add a status, no new file. That sentence has paid rent. Rules are for the sentences you reuse every day. A note is for the one you will forget by Monday.

When to leave Cursor

Leave when the work is not a folder of files.

If you have a long messy thread, a half written page of prose, a landlord email, a pile of meeting notes you need turned into a decision, that is Claude. I have tried to do that in Cursor by making an empty markdown file. It works. It is also a silly way to avoid opening a chat product that is built for the mess.

If you need a current take, a what did they ship this week answer, something search-y that is not in your repo, that is Grok. I have asked Cursor to search the web. Sometimes that is fine. When the question is not about my code I stop pretending it is a coding task.

If you do not know which one yet, Which tool when is the comparison. Come back to Cursor when the answer has to land in a file. That is the job. The editor is for edits.

I also leave mid-task when I am arguing with it. Two restores, same extra rename, I walk away and write the function myself. The loop includes I can type. People forget that after a week of Agent. You are still allowed to edit the buffer.

A month later, this is what stuck

I still import VS Code settings on a new machine from Cursor Settings, General, Account. I still open one folder. I still wait a minute on a fresh clone. I still mention the file and paste the error. I still read the diff. I still restore more than I argue. I still start a new chat when the task changes. I have three project rules and I delete one if I stop believing it.

I do not finish every night with a new feature. I finish a lot of nights with a commit that says what I meant. That is the stickiness. The tool is in the way less.

If you skipped ahead and you do not even have it installed, go back to getting started. If you have it installed and you are still prompting build me an app, go back to the one real problem. The rest of this series is just me repeating: small ask, real files, read the diff.

Couldnt tell you what it changed is not a workflow. It is a warning. The habit is the opposite of that first tuesday. Ask. Check. Commit. Leave when the work is not code. Come back tomorrow with another sentence.