Cursor Context Management

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Context management
• Tasks that involve Context engineering

Example prompts

• “cursor context”
• “context window”
• “context limit”
• “/cursor-context-management”

Requirements

• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write, Edit, Bash(cmd:*)

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Start with the exact files, symbols, and constraints needed; avoid indiscriminate @Codebase use.
2. 2Inspect context pills/attachments before submitting and remove stale or sensitive material.
3. 3Start a new chat when topic or repository boundary changes.
4. 4Verify generated output against the source and tests; context relevance never replaces validation.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit cfae287. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash(cmd:*)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are gitignore and yaml).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • docs.cursor.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Cursor Context Management loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 65 tokens; SKILL.md has 734 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~65

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.1k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~3.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:180

  .env

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:181

  .env.*

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace at commit cfae287, republished under its MIT licence (© jeremylongshore). 734 words, ~2,083 tokens.

name

cursor-context-management

description

Optimize context window usage in Cursor with @-mentions, context pills, and conversation strategy. Triggers on "cursor context", "context window", "context limit", "cursor memory", "context management", "@-mentions", "context pills".

allowed-tools

Read, Write, Edit, Bash(cmd:*)

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code

version

1.19.0

license

MIT

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

tags

saas, cursor, cursor-context

┌─ Always Included ─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  System prompt (Cursor internal)                      │
│  Active .cursor/rules/*.mdc with alwaysApply: true    │
│  Current file (for Tab, Inline Edit)                  │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─ Conditionally Included ──────────────────────────────┐
│  Selected code (highlighted before Cmd+L/Cmd+K)       │
│  @-mention targets (@Files, @Folders, @Code)          │
│  Glob-matched rules (.mdc with matching globs)        │
│  Conversation history (prior turns in chat)           │
│  Open editor tabs (lightweight reference)             │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─ On-Demand (explicit @-mention) ──────────────────────┐
│  @Codebase  → semantic search across indexed files    │
│  @Docs      → crawled external documentation          │
│  @Web       → live web search results                 │
│  @Git       → uncommitted diff or branch diff         │
│  @Lint Errors → current file lint diagnostics         │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[main.ts] [src/utils/] [@Web: next.js 15] [Rule: typescript-standards]

@src/auth/middleware.ts @src/types/user.ts
Explain how the JWT validation works and what happens when a token expires.

@src/hooks/useCart.ts @Lint Errors @Recent Changes
The cart total is NaN after the latest changes. What broke?

@Codebase where are database queries made?

@Docs Prisma @Web prisma client extensions 2025
How do I add soft-delete as a Prisma Client extension?

# .cursorignore (project root)

# Secrets and credentials
.env
.env.*
**/secrets/
**/credentials/

# Large generated files
dist/
build/
node_modules/
*.min.js
*.bundle.js

# Data files that consume context budget
*.csv
*.sql
*.sqlite
fixtures/

# .cursor/rules/database-patterns.mdc
---
description: "Database query patterns and conventions"
globs: "src/db/**/*.ts,src/repositories/**/*.ts"
alwaysApply: false
---
# Database Conventions
- Use parameterized queries exclusively
- All queries go through repository pattern
- Wrap multi-table operations in transactions
- Use connection pooling (pool size: 10)

© jeremylongshore, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 7 other files (references) in skills/.curated/cursor-context-management of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/advanced-techniques.md
• references/best-practices.md
• references/context-optimization-strategies.md
• references/conversation-context.md
• references/errors.md
• references/examples.md
• references/managing-large-codebases.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit cfae287