Use Claude Code skills with Cursor

Cursor and Claude Code both consume Markdown rule files at session start. A skill written for one is mostly portable to the other — same content, different filename and frontmatter conventions. This page shows how to port a SKILL.md from the ClaudSkills catalog into Cursor's modern .cursor/rules/ directory.

Cursor rule-file format (2026)

Cursor's modern format is the .cursor/rules/ directory with one or more .mdc files. Each .mdc file has YAML frontmatter (a subset of the SKILL.md schema) that controls when the rule loads — Always, Auto-Attached (matches a glob), Agent Requested (matches the description), or Manual. The legacy .cursorrules single-file format still works in Chat and Composer but is silently ignored in Agent mode, so it's deprecated for new projects.

Modern (2026)	Legacy fallback
.cursor/rules/<rule-name>.mdc	.cursorrules

Upstream docs: https://cursor.com/docs/rules

SKILL.md → Cursor field mapping

SKILL.md field	Cursor equivalent
name	→ becomes part of the rule's filename
description	→ description: (used by Agent Requested mode)
allowed-tools	Cursor has no direct equivalent (Cursor scopes by mode, not by tool list)
user-invokable	Cursor has no direct equivalent (always-on per the activation mode)

Worked example

Pick any ClaudSkills SKILL.md from the catalog. Strip the YAML frontmatter; drop the body into the file shown below:

# File: .cursor/rules/code-review.mdc

---
description: Senior-engineer code review for diffs, PRs, and full repos. Use after a change is staged or pushed.
globs:
  - "**/*.{ts,tsx,js,py,go,rs}"
alwaysApply: false
---

Save, restart your editor session, and the skill becomes available to Cursor's agent on the next prompt.

Recommended skills for Cursor users

From the 6 skills below, pick the one or two that match your project's most-common workflows. Each links to the full SKILL.md on ClaudSkills.

• code-reviewer Comprehensive code review skill for TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Swift, Kotlin, Go. Includes automated code analysis, best practice checking, security scanning, and review check
• stop-slop Remove AI writing patterns from prose. Use when drafting, editing, or reviewing text to eliminate predictable AI tells.
• beck-test-driven-development Develop software in the style of Kent Beck, creator of Test-Driven Development and Extreme Programming. Emphasizes red-green-refactor, tests-first design, small steps, and emergent
• typescript-strict-patterns Use when writing or reviewing any TypeScript code. Covers discriminated unions, branded types, Zod at boundaries, const arrays over enums, and safe access patterns.
• git-workflow Enhanced git operations using lazygit, gh (GitHub CLI), and delta. Triggers on: stage changes, create PR, review PR, check issues, git diff, commit interactively, GitHub operations
• performance-optimization Optimizes application performance. Use when performance requirements exist, when you suspect performance regressions, or when Core Web Vitals or load times need improvement. Use wh

Limitations to know about

• Cursor's MDC frontmatter doesn't have a user-invokable field — every rule is at least Agent-Requested.
• Cursor scopes by Agent mode + Chat mode + Composer mode; SKILL.md's tool-list allowed-tools field has no exact counterpart.
• Skills that depend on Claude Code's built-in Bash + Read + Write tool primitives translate cleanly because Cursor's Agent mode wraps the same underlying surface. Skills that lean on Claude-specific MCPs may need adjustment.

FAQ

Will Cursor read a SKILL.md file directly?

Not natively. Cursor reads .cursor/rules/*.mdc (modern) or .cursorrules (legacy). Strip the SKILL.md YAML frontmatter, drop the body into a .mdc file, optionally add Cursor's frontmatter fields (description, globs, alwaysApply), and you're done.

Can I keep the same file in both Cursor and Claude Code?

Yes — keep SKILL.md as the canonical source. Use a build step (a Makefile or shell one-liner) to strip the frontmatter and copy the body into .cursor/rules/<name>.mdc. Both editors then load the same body.

Does Cursor support all 69,000+ skills in the ClaudSkills catalog?

Most of them. Anything that's purely instructions and Markdown ports cleanly. Skills that hard-code Claude-specific behavior (e.g., calling out to a specific MCP server only Claude Code has) need adjustment for Cursor's Agent mode.

Keep reading

• All integrations — the full landscape across Cursor, Cline, Roo, Windsurf, Codex, Continue
• Claude Code skill catalogs compared — 5 catalogs head-to-head
• How to write a Claude Code skill
• SKILL.md frontmatter reference
• Browse 69,000+ skills