Cursor Known Pitfalls

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Cursor pitfalls
• Cursor mistakes
• Cursor problems

Example prompts

• “cursor pitfalls”
• “cursor mistakes”
• “cursor gotchas”
• “/cursor-known-pitfalls”

Requirements

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

Workflow steps

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

1. 1Identify the relevant pitfall before accepting a suggestion or changing configuration.
2. 2Narrow context and task scope, then verify the resulting diff and tests.
3. 3Record recurring failures in reviewed rules or team guidance rather than relying on memory.

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

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • cursor

  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):

  • cursor.com
  • forum.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 Known Pitfalls loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 65 tokens; SKILL.md has 934 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

~2.4k

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

~4.3k

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:137

  - .env file contents

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:150

  ithout `.cursorignore`, sensitive files (.env, credentials, PII) may be included in AI context via `@Codebase` search or

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:155

  .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). 934 words, ~2,354 tokens.

name

cursor-known-pitfalls

description

Avoid common Cursor IDE pitfalls: AI feature mistakes, security gotchas, configuration errors, and team workflow issues. Triggers on "cursor pitfalls", "cursor mistakes", "cursor gotchas", "cursor issues", "cursor problems", "cursor tips".

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-known

1. Click each file in the Changes panel to review its diff
2. Check imports: are they real packages in your project?
3. Check function calls: do the methods actually exist?
4. Run build after applying: npm run build
5. Run tests: npm test
6. Commit BEFORE running Composer (easy rollback with git checkout .)

- Use @Files (specific) over @Folders (broad) over @Codebase (broadest)
- Limit to 3-5 file references per prompt
- Start new chats for new topics
- Remove stale context pills by clicking X

# .cursor/rules/stack.mdc
---
description: "Tech stack versions"
globs: ""
alwaysApply: true
---
ALWAYS use these versions:
- React 19 with Server Components (NOT class components)
- Next.js 15 App Router (NOT Pages Router)
- TypeScript 5.7 strict (NOT any casts)
- ESM imports (NOT CommonJS require)

NEVER paste:
- .env file contents
- Error logs containing credentials
- Database connection strings
- API response headers with auth tokens

INSTEAD:
- Redact secrets before pasting: "API key sk-...XXXX returned 401"
- Describe the error without the sensitive values
- Use @Files to reference the code, not copy-paste

.env*
**/secrets/
**/credentials/
**/*.pem
**/*.key

- Security-critical code ALWAYS needs human expert review
- Run SAST tools (Semgrep, Snyk) on AI-generated code
- Never deploy AI-generated auth code without penetration testing
- Add security rules in .cursor/rules/security.mdc

// settings.json
{
  "files.watcherExclude": {
    "**/node_modules/**": true,
    "**/.git/objects/**": true,
    "**/dist/**": true,
    "**/build/**": true
  }
}

© 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 10 other files (references) in skills/.curated/cursor-known-pitfalls of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/ai-feature-pitfalls.md
• references/completion-pitfalls.md
• references/configuration-pitfalls.md
• references/errors.md
• references/examples.md
• references/performance-pitfalls.md
• references/recovery-strategies.md
• references/security-pitfalls.md
• references/team-pitfalls.md
• references/workflow-pitfalls.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit cfae287