Cursor Rules
Configuration
Per-repo text · suggestion only
  • Flat .cursorrules file
  • Whole-repo scope, no per-file matching
  • No conflict resolution between overlapping rules
  • Injected as prompt preamble — model may ignore
  • One file per repo · not multi-agent shared
Mneme HQ
Enforcement
Repo-native decisions · deterministic verdict
  • Structured records: id, scope, status, supersedes
  • Per-file pattern matching (services/payments/**)
  • Precedence engine resolves conflicts deterministically
  • Hook-level blocking at Edit/Write · CI gate
  • Shared corpus queryable by every agent on the codebase

What Cursor Rules are

  • Per-repo .cursorrules file (plain text instructions)
  • Injected as system prompt preamble by Cursor
  • Written manually, no schema, no version control enforcement
  • Single file per repo — same rules applied everywhere regardless of context
  • The model can still ignore them

What Mneme HQ does differently

Dimension Cursor Rules Mneme HQ
Storage .cursorrules flat text file Structured JSON with typed fields (id, scope, status, rationale, supersedes)
Enforcement Suggestion — model can ignore Hook-level blocking on Edit/Write operations
Scope Whole repo — same rules everywhere Per-file pattern matching (e.g. services/payments/**)
Conflict resolution None — you manage conflicts manually Precedence engine resolves conflicts deterministically
Multi-agent support One file per repo Shared decision corpus queryable by all agents
Decision versioning Plain text, no status tracking Status field (draft/active/superseded) with supersedes chain

When Cursor Rules are sufficient

  • Single developer, single repo, no enforcement requirement
  • Rules that apply uniformly to every file in the project
  • Suggestions are fine — you don't need a violation to actually block
  • No multi-agent workflows, no conflicting rule sets

When the difference matters

  • Multiple engineers or agents editing the same codebase simultaneously
  • Service-boundary-specific rules (payments team has different storage rules than analytics)
  • You need a violation to be stopped, not merely suggested against
  • Rules conflict (org policy vs. team exception) and you need deterministic resolution rather than model judgment
  • Decision history matters — when a rule changed, why it changed, what it superseded

The fundamental distinction

Cursor Rules are configuration. Mneme HQ is enforcement.

The distinction matters when the cost of a violation is more than a PR comment — when an architectural boundary is crossed, a compliance rule is broken, or a service dependency is introduced that will take a quarter to untangle.