1 min lesson
Conversation context and privacy controls
Say what this means in practice: "Start with this check: The conversation contains only context that still matters."
Step 1 of 3
The job: you can reset context deliberately and avoid treating ignore files as a security boundary. Start with this check: The conversation contains only context that still matters. Keep it small enough to check the result yourself instead of taking the summary on trust.
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Full explanation
Conversation context and privacy controls
Context reset — carry a summary forward, keep .cursorignore in its lane
Conversation context and privacy controls
SayThis thread started as the auth-middleware refactor; it's looped on the same broken import twice, and now I want to add rate limiting.
SeeThe context-window indicator is nearly full, and the last two replies repeat the fix that already failed.
Type
Summarize the decisions we've locked in on the auth refactor as five bullets I can paste into a new chat.SeeThe reply is a short list of what's settled — the token check and the middleware order — without the dead-end attempts.
Type
.env.local
fixtures/customer-dump.jsonDoOpen .cursorignoreA file listing paths Cursor must never index or read, kept separate from .gitignore. Press Enter for the full definition. and add paths that should be excluded from normal indexing and context discovery.
SeeThe paths are excluded on a best-effort basis. An explicit tool call or direct file access may still reach them, so the ignore file is context hygiene, not access control.
SayThe ignore file lowers accidental exposure, but it is not a security boundary. I want the real data-handling setting too.
DoOpen Settings, check the Privacy ModeCursor's setting that guarantees code data is not used for training by Cursor or its model providers, and that an admin can enforce org-wide; data-retention terms are a separate, contractual layer. Press Enter for the full definition. status, and confirm it is enforced for the team rather than only toggled on locally.
SeePrivacy ModeCursor's setting that guarantees code data is not used for training by Cursor or its model providers, and that an admin can enforce org-wide; data-retention terms are a separate, contractual layer. Press Enter for the full definition. means Cursor does not train on this code. It is not a blanket no-storage promise; storage and retention still depend on the product path being used.
DoStart a new chat, paste the five-bullet summary, and leave the old thread closed.
SeeThe new conversation carries the summary and rate-limiting task without the dead-end attempts. The ignored paths stay out of normal discovery unless a tool or person reaches them directly.
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Optional practice
Practice: Conversation context and privacy controls
QYou've applied it. What actually proves the work is done, not just a plausible answer?