Manage user-level rules, skills, subagents, commands, and hooks in one place.
Open the panel from the status bar (Manage User AI) or the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P/Cmd+Shift+P→ Manage User AI) to browse, preview, and edit everything in~/.cursor/without leaving Cursor.
User-level means these settings apply to every Cursor workspace you open, not just the current project.
Changes don’t apply to existing chats. Start a new chat or right‑click the agent in the sidebar and choose Fork chat to pick up the new settings.
If you have a built .vsix (e.g. from Releases or from building locally):
- In Cursor: Command Palette (
Ctrl+Shift+P/Cmd+Shift+P) → Extensions: Install from VSIX... - Select the downloaded
.vsixfile (e.g. from the current release or from the project’s.vsce/folder). - Reload the window if prompted.
Changes you make here apply to every Cursor workspace (every project and folder). Add or edit content only when you intend it to affect all projects. Consider testing in a single project first if unsure.
In Cursor’s Settings → Rules, a rule with only alwaysApply: false and no description or globs may show "Incorrect format". That’s expected: when a rule isn’t always applied, Cursor needs either a description (Apply Intelligently) or globs (Apply to Specific Files). Without either, the rule only applies when you @mention it (Apply Manually).
Rules you manage in this extension live in ~/.cursor/rules/ (file-based). They may not show under the User filter in Cursor’s Settings → Rules; Cursor’s “User” tab often shows only rules stored in its internal state (e.g. cloud or local DB). Your file-based rules still apply globally and will appear under All (and in project-level filters). They are loaded and used by the AI—this is a display quirk, not a loading issue.
Hooks let you run custom scripts when the agent does certain things—for example when a session starts, before or after the agent edits a file, runs a shell command, or uses an MCP tool. This extension manages:
~/.cursor/hooks.json— Config that defines which scripts run at each event. Select it in the Hooks section to view or edit; use the trash icon to clear all hooks.~/.cursor/hooks/— Your hook script files (e.g.after-file-edit.sh,before-shell-execution.js). Script names map to events (kebab-case:after-file-edit.sh→afterFileEdit). Supported extensions:.sh,.js,.ts.
First run: The first time you expand Hooks after installing, the extension creates empty hooks.json and 20 default stub scripts in ~/.cursor/hooks/ if they're missing. None are enabled until you check the box. Use Spawn placeholders (under + Create new in the hooks folder) to restore any missing default script files later.
Enable a script: Check the box next to the script; it's registered for that event in hooks.json and runs automatically when the agent triggers the event. No restart needed.
Full list of events, script contract (stdin JSON, exit 0/2), and Windows/Node notes are in the Hooks landing page inside the panel (click Hooks in the sidebar, then read the main area when no script is selected).
- Expand a category in the sidebar (Rules, Skills, Subagents, Commands, or Hooks).
- Select a file (or for Hooks,
hooks.jsonor a script) to preview it. - Use Edit to open the file in the editor so the AI can help you change it.
- Use + Create new to add a new rule, skill, subagent, command, or hook script.
- For a skill folder, use the pencil icon to open that skill in a new window and edit it as a whole.
- Use Import (folder icon in the category header) to add files or skill folders from disk into that category (or hook scripts into Hooks).
- Use Export (document-with-arrow icon on each file or skill folder) to save a copy to a location you choose.
- Use Sync to Workspace (sync icon) to copy the selected global file or skill folder into this project’s
.cursorfolder so you can share it with the team.
Use the ? button next to each category name in the sidebar to open Cursor’s official docs for that feature. The overview (#README) and Hooks landing page in the panel have detailed in-app documentation.
| Category | What it is | |
|---|---|---|
| 📋 | Rules | Global rules that guide the AI (e.g. coding style, project conventions). |
| 🧠 | Skills | Agent skills (reusable capabilities); each skill is a folder with a SKILL.md. |
| 🤖 | Subagents | Custom agent configurations (e.g. specialized subagents for different tasks). Stored in ~/.cursor/agents/ (Cursor’s folder name). |
| ⚡ | Commands | Custom slash commands you can run from chat. |
| 🪝 | Hooks | Scripts that run when the agent does certain things (e.g. after editing a file, before running a shell command). Managed via ~/.cursor/hooks.json and ~/.cursor/hooks/. |
- Rules, Subagents, Commands: Click the folder icon in the category header and pick a file. It is copied into
~/.cursor/rules/,~/.cursor/agents/, or~/.cursor/commands/(subagents use theagentsfolder; rules are normalized to.mdcwith valid frontmatter). - Skills: Choose to import a whole folder (copied as a skill folder) or a single
SKILL.mdfile (a new skill folder is created from it). - Hooks: Import adds script files into
~/.cursor/hooks/. Enable a script with its checkbox to register it for that event inhooks.json.
- File (Rules, Subagents, Commands): Click the export icon on a file row and choose where to save the file.
- Skill folder: Click the export icon on a skill folder and choose a parent folder; the skill is copied there as
<folderName>/. - Hooks: Export copies
hooks.jsonor a hook script file to the location you choose.
- Copies the selected global file or skill folder (or hook script) into the current workspace’s
.cursorfolder (e.g.workspace/.cursor/rules/my-rule.mdc,workspace/.cursor/agents/my-agent.md,workspace/.cursor/skills/my-skill/, orworkspace/.cursor/hooks/after-file-edit.sh). Subagents sync toworkspace/.cursor/agents/. Creates the.cursorand category folder if they don’t exist. - Useful when you want to move a global rule, skill, subagent, command, or hook into the project so other developers can use it. Requires a folder to be open (File → Open Folder).
- Before any overwrite (Save, Import, or Create new with an existing name), the extension copies the current file or skill folder to
~/.cursor/.backups/with a timestamped name (e.g.20250302T143045-rules-my-rule.mdcor20250302T143045-skills-my-skill/). For Hooks, backups go to~/.cursor/Hooks_Backup/(last 5 per file). Restore by copying a backup back into the matching location under~/.cursor/.
Versioning: The extension version is in package.json. Release history is in CHANGELOG.md (semantic versioning).
Docs: Use the ? buttons in the panel to open Cursor’s docs (Rules, Skills, Subagents, Commands, Hooks). Overview and Cursor Docs cover rules, skills, subagents, commands, and agent hooks.