Cursor

Use Beads with Cursor through a project rules file that keeps the workflow guidance in front of the agent every turn.

bd setup cursor
bd setup cursor --check

bd setup cursor installs .cursor/rules/beads.mdc — an always-applied rule with the canonical Beads workflow guidance (the same content every other editor integration uses), so it stays in sync as the workflow evolves. Because it is always applied, Cursor re-includes it every turn, including after a context compaction.

Restart Cursor after installing so the rule loads.

Verifying it works

bd setup cursor --check

In a session, the agent should know your bd workflow without being told — ask it what work is ready and it should run bd ready. If it doesn't, confirm .cursor/rules/beads.mdc exists and restart Cursor.

After a context compaction, have the agent run bd prime to restore the workflow context, ready work, and project memories.

Remove

bd setup cursor --remove

This removes the rules file while leaving the rest of .cursor/ intact.

Related

• IDE Setup — all editor integrations
• Claude Code
• Codex