1 min lesson

The context and configuration layer

Imagine this comes up at work. "A platform team asks which single Cursor configuration will most improve output quality and consistency across their 800 engineers. What do you recommend first and why?" Start with the practical move.

The context and configuration layerwhere ADM work actually happens

Output quality is a function of context. A high-impact enterprise configuration is the project rules system in .cursor/rules: shared instructions that encode how this team writes code, so developers do not have to restate the same conventions in every prompt. Versioned rules give the team one reviewed source for shared guidance, and the stack figure above covers @-symbols, indexing and MCPModel Context Protocol. A standard that lets an AI agent pull in context from outside the repo, like Jira tickets or internal docs. Press Enter for the full definition..

Model selection is the fifth lever. Platform teams ask about it on day one, and you must advise rather than deflect, so section 6 gives it its own treatment.

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Full explanation

Rules are the artifact you'll coach most

This example requires TypeScript strict mode, the internal httpClient, colocated failing-path tests and integer cents for money. It also sends uncertain domain terms to docs/glossary.md instead of inventing them.

This project rule requires TypeScript strict mode, the internal httpClient, colocated failing-path tests, integer cents for money and docs/glossary.md for domain terms

# Conventions for the payments service
- Language: TypeScript, strict mode. No `any` without a comment justifying it.
- HTTP: use the internal `httpClient`, never raw fetch, because it handles retries + tracing.
- Tests: colocate as `*.test.ts`; every new handler needs a failing-path test.
- Money: integer cents only. Never floats for currency.
- When unsure about a domain term, check `docs/glossary.md` before inventing one.

The context and configuration layer

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