Use rules for defaults and prompts for exceptions

Rule of thumb: rules are for the repo's normal operating system; prompts are for the live assignment. Put conventions, architecture guardrails, naming preferences, preferred tools, and review standards in rules. Put ticket-specific goals, temporary boundaries, and unusual stakeholder asks in the prompt. The more your team follows this split, the more predictable Cursor becomes because it starts each task with the right defaults already loaded. A bad smell is when a prompt contains a paragraph that would still be true next month for a different ticket. That paragraph probably belongs in rules. Another bad smell is when a rule reads…

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