Answers
How do you share rules between Cursor and Claude Code?
Each tool reads its own file. Cursor's documentation says its rules live in .cursor/rules as .mdc files with frontmatter, in four kinds: always applied, applied when the agent judges them relevant, applied to files matching a pattern, or only when mentioned by hand. It also supports AGENTS.md in the project root and in subdirectories, the more specific one taking precedence, and the page I read does not mention CLAUDE.md. Claude Code reads CLAUDE.md, and reads AGENTS.md only when the project has no CLAUDE.md. So the two share a file only through AGENTS.md, which a CLAUDE.md can import. That puts both tools on one text, and it is still a file: it does not say who decided a line, when it stops being true or whether an assistant added it, and it does not reach anyone who works outside the repository. A rule stays shared when it lives once, where someone sees it and approves it, and every tool reads it from there. Arroway is that place: each rule with who approved it and when it ends, read before acting by every connected tool. The install page is the first step.
Last updated October 7, 2026
What each tool reads
Cursor: rules are .mdc files in .cursor/rules, with frontmatter fields for whether a rule always applies, which files it targets and a description the agent uses to decide when to include it. Plain .md files there are ignored unless they are an AGENTS.md in the project root or a subdirectory, where the more specific file wins. On Team and Enterprise plans there are also Team Rules, applied before project and user rules. Claude Code: reads CLAUDE.md, and AGENTS.md only when there is no CLAUDE.md; a CLAUDE.md can import another file. The Cursor page I read does not mention CLAUDE.md at all, so a team that uses both tools and writes only CLAUDE.md has Cursor working without those rules.
Where it stops
A file is read by the agents working in that repository. The person setting prices in a chat window, an agent in another repository and a colleague who does not use Git never load it. Cursor's rules add a second problem: a rule scoped by pattern or left for the agent to judge applies only some of the time, so two people can get different behaviour from the same repository. A line in any of the files cannot say it is no longer true, a pull request shows who changed it and not whether it still stands, and nothing separates a rule a person approved from one an assistant added in a session. These limits follow from the rule living inside a repository.
When to use Arroway
Use Arroway when the rules have to reach Cursor, Claude Code and the people and assistants who never open the repository, and change in one place. Each rule and decision is recorded once, with who approved it and the condition that ends it; a replacement names the rule it retires; every connected assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor or anything over MCP — reads the current version at the start of a session, inside the repository and outside it. What holds, about the code or about the business, goes there and not into a rules file, where an assistant can add a line nobody approved. The first step is the install page.
What it looks like in practice
A four-person team builds a mobile app, two in Cursor and two in Claude Code. They keep an AGENTS.md that CLAUDE.md imports, and a Cursor rule scoped to the test folder. In October the tech lead decides that every API change needs a migration note. She adds the line to AGENTS.md. The Cursor rule for the test folder still says the old thing, and the support assistant, which runs in a chat window, has never read either file. A pull request ships without the note, and nobody can say which assistant told the author it was optional. When someone finally opens the files, one rule was added in August by an assistant and approved by nobody. In Arroway the rule is recorded once, with the tech lead's name, replacing the older one. Cursor, Claude Code and the support assistant open their next session with it, and the history shows when it changed and who changed it. What the team relied on in the files is recorded the same way, approved by a person.
Questions people ask about this
- Does Cursor read CLAUDE.md?
- The Cursor documentation page I read does not mention CLAUDE.md. It describes .cursor/rules and AGENTS.md. Cursor reads AGENTS.md, and a CLAUDE.md can import it.
- Where should a rule that both tools follow live?
- Outside both files, in one place where someone sees it and approves it. In Arroway each rule carries who approved it and when it ends, and Cursor, Claude Code and every other connected tool read the current version before acting.
- How do I try Arroway?
- Install it in the tool you already use — the install page has one route for Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor or any MCP tool — and sign in when the tool asks. From then on, sessions open by reading the project and close by recording what was decided.
Where this is verifiable
Cursor documentation on rules (cursor.com/docs/context/rules), read on 7 October 2026; the Claude Code memory documentation and changelog, read on 29 September 2026. Each product is described only as its documentation describes it on those dates, and can change in any release. Product documentation on this site (How it works, Install), the answers on whether Claude Code reads AGENTS.md and on keeping three instruction files in sync, and the sanction, supersession and expiry-condition rules in the sanctioned product spec. Everything described here about Arroway is behaviour the tools apply today, not roadmap. The team in the example is illustrative.
https://www.arroway.app/en/answers/cursor-rules-and-claude-md-in-the-same-team