Apothem vs raw Cursor config

Cursor reads rules in MDC format under .cursor/rules/. The MDC format requires frontmatter fields — description, globs, and alwaysApply. Apothem's cursor adapter renders those .mdc files from the shared profile. This page contrasts hand-maintaining that config against managing it with Apothem.

Effort comparison

What Apothem manages

The cursor adapter renders the shared rules into .mdc files under .cursor/rules/, generating the required MDC frontmatter (description, globs, alwaysApply) for each file. The adapter writes only the directory-based MDC format Cursor reads; it does not write a single-file .cursorrules. Cursor has no PreToolUse hook, so guardrail intent lives in the rule prose.

Migration path

1. Run apothem profile init to create the shared profile if you have not yet.
2. Move the rules from your existing .cursor/rules/ (and any .cursorrules) into the shared corpus.
3. Run apothem install --harness cursor to render the .mdc files with correct MDC frontmatter.
4. Run apothem verify --harness cursor to confirm the config landed.
5. Use apothem update --harness cursor for every later change.

Read next

• Cursor adapter reference
• Comparison overview