cursor-ide Stinger

The knowledge repository for cursor-ide-worker-bee. Covers Hivemind's real Cursor surface: the Cursor 1.7+ hooks harness, the first-party Cursor extension, registering the Hivemind MCP server in Cursor, and the .cursor/ colony (rules, agents, skills, commands, model matrix) that this repo ships.

This is the platform knowledge that keeps the colony working inside Cursor: the rules .mdc format, the hooks lifecycle, MCP registration, the agents/skills/commands layout, and the cursor harness install.

When this stinger applies

Load whenever cursor-ide-worker-bee is invoked. Typical triggers (any of these phrases):

• "wire the Cursor hooks" / "what does install-cursor do" / "hooks.json" / "Cursor 1.7 hooks"
• "add a .cursor/rules/*.mdc" / "fix this rule" / "rule frontmatter" / "alwaysApply / globs"
• "register the Hivemind MCP server in Cursor" / "mcp.json in Cursor"
• "the cursor extension" / "harnesses/cursor/extension" / "the dashboard webview / status bar"
• "the colony layout" / "where do agents/skills/commands live" / "the-beekeeper / the-smoker"
• "model-comparison-matrix"

Do NOT load for:

• Code quality / typing of the TypeScript source itself (typescript-node-worker-bee).
• The MCP protocol internals of src/mcp/server.ts: tool schemas, transport (mcp-protocol-worker-bee).
• Harness wiring for Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, or other agents (harness-integration-worker-bee).

First action when loaded

Read in order before acting:

1. guides/01-principles.md: the Hivemind Cursor surface map, the rules .mdc mental model, and the hard directives (idempotent hook merge, em-dash ban, Cursor field shape).
2. The task-specific guide:
   • 02 for .cursor/rules/*.mdc authoring.
   • 03 for registering the Hivemind MCP server in Cursor.
   • 04 for the Cursor hooks lifecycle (the 6 events + install-cursor.ts).
   • 05 for the .cursor/ colony layout.
   • 06 for the cursor extension build.

Folder layout

cursor-ide-stinger/
+- SKILL.md                          (this file, master index)
+- guides/
|  +- 01-principles.md               (the Hivemind Cursor surface; rules model; hard directives)
|  +- 02-rule-file-authoring.md      (.cursor/rules/*.mdc frontmatter, globs, activation modes)
|  +- 03-mcp-integration.md          (registering the Hivemind MCP server in Cursor)
|  +- 04-cursor-hooks-lifecycle.md   (hooks.json 1.7+, the 6 events, install-cursor.ts wiring)
|  +- 05-cursor-army-layout.md       (.cursor/ rules + agents + skills + commands + model matrix)
|  +- 06-extension-development.md    (harnesses/cursor/extension build, contributions, MCP/hooks surface)
+- examples/
|  +- rule-file-examples.md          (worked .mdc examples, including this repo's live rules)
|  +- mcp-server-example.md          (registering hivemind in Cursor mcp.json + the extension path)
|  +- hooks-wiring-example.md        (a real ~/.cursor/hooks.json after install-cursor)
+- templates/
|  +- rule-file-template.mdc         (canonical .mdc frontmatter template)
|  +- hooks-json-template.json       (Cursor 1.7+ hooks.json wiring template)
+- reports/
|  +- README.md
+- research/                         (Cursor 1.7+ hooks/rules notes, dated 2026-06-16)
   +- research-plan.md
   +- research-summary.md
   +- index.md
   +- internal/  (live repo artifacts)
   +- external/  (Cursor hooks + rules docs)

Critical directives

Stinger-level non-negotiables that cursor-ide-worker-bee enforces on every invocation:

• Cursor's hooks.json schema differs from Claude/Codex. Array entries under each event are command objects directly ({ type, command, timeout }), with NO outer { hooks: [...] } wrapper and NO top-level matcher wrapper. See guides/04.
• Hook merges must stay idempotent and Windows-safe. install-cursor.ts strips prior Hivemind entries (matched on a normalized /.cursor/hivemind/bundle/ path so backslash paths on Windows do not duplicate) before re-adding, and only rewrites hooks.json when content changed so it does not perturb Cursor's trust fingerprint.
• .cursor/rules/*.mdc is the only rules format. This repo ships .mdc rules with frontmatter (description / globs / alwaysApply). Never introduce a .cursorrules file here.
• Prefer alwaysApply: false with a narrow glob or a sharp description. Reserve alwaysApply: true for short, always-true directives (this repo uses it only for no-em-dashes.mdc).
• NO em dashes, ever. Write hyphens directly. This is enforced by .cursor/rules/no-em-dashes.mdc and applies to every file this Bee authors.

Key facts by domain (quick reference)

The Hivemind Cursor surface (what this repo actually ships)

Surface	Path	Purpose
Hook installer	src/cli/install-cursor.ts	Merges ~/.cursor/hooks.json, copies the bundle to ~/.cursor/hivemind/bundle/
Hook bundle	harnesses/cursor/bundle/	Built hook scripts (session-start.js, capture.js, pre-tool-use.js, graph-on-stop.js, session-end.js)
Extension	harnesses/cursor/extension/	First-party VS Code/Cursor extension: status bar, onboarding, dashboard webview, codebase graph, skill sync
MCP server	src/mcp/server.ts	stdio server exposing hivemind_search / hivemind_read / hivemind_index
Colony	.cursor/	rules/*.mdc, agents/*.md, skills/<base>-stinger/, commands/, model-comparison-matrix.md

Cursor 1.7+ hooks (~/.cursor/hooks.json)

{
  "version": 1,
  "hooks": {
    "sessionStart":        [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/session-start.js\"", "timeout": 30 }],
    "beforeSubmitPrompt":  [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 10 }],
    "preToolUse":          [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/pre-tool-use.js\"", "timeout": 30, "matcher": "Shell" }],
    "postToolUse":         [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 15 }],
    "afterAgentResponse":  [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 15 }],
    "stop":                [{ "...": "capture.js + graph-on-stop.js" }],
    "sessionEnd":          [{ "...": "session-end.js + graph-on-stop.js" }]
  }
}

Six lifecycle events are wired: sessionStart, beforeSubmitPrompt, preToolUse (Shell matcher rewrites grep/rg against ~/.deeplake/memory/ into a SQL fast path), postToolUse, afterAgentResponse, stop, and sessionEnd. graph-on-stop.js auto-builds the code graph on stop and sessionEnd (gated, async, never blocks Cursor).

Rules (.cursor/rules/*.mdc)

Cursor project rules are .mdc files with frontmatter. Activation is driven by three fields:

Mode	alwaysApply	globs	description
Always Apply	true	any	any
Apply to Specific Files	false	set	any
Apply Intelligently	false	unset	set
Apply Manually	false	unset	unset

This repo's live rules: no-em-dashes.mdc (alwaysApply), plan-construction-protocol.mdc, respect-agent-work-boundaries.mdc.

MCP registration in Cursor

The Hivemind MCP server (src/mcp/server.ts, stdio) exposes hivemind_search, hivemind_read, hivemind_index. To use it inside Cursor, add a mcpServers entry to .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) pointing at the built server. See guides/03.

Pairing

Role	Artifact
This stinger	.
Paired Bee	../../agents/cursor-ide-worker-bee.md
Harness Bee (other agents)	../../agents/harness-integration-worker-bee.md
MCP protocol Bee	../../agents/mcp-protocol-worker-bee.md
Orchestrator commands	.cursor/commands/the-beekeeper.md, .cursor/commands/the-smoker.md

Refresh cadence

• Guides 01-06: refresh on any Cursor major version, or when install-cursor.ts / the extension package.json changes.
• Research folder: re-run on any Cursor 1.x hooks API change.

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Part of The Hive, curated by Mario Aldayuz a.k.a @thenotoriousllama.