Get your Cursor rules into Claude Code

The reverse of Claude Code rules into Cursor: you’ve built up rules in Cursor and want the same guidance in Claude Code.

What you need

syllago installed and initialized (syllago init)
Cursor with at least one rule configured (.cursor/rules/ or .cursorrules)

1. See what Cursor has

syllago add --from cursor

Discovery mode: this lists Cursor’s available content without importing anything.

2. Import the rules into your library

# Import all rules
syllago add rules --from cursor

# Or import one specific rule
syllago add rules/typescript --from cursor

The rules land in your library (~/.syllago/content/) in syllago’s canonical format. Run syllago list to confirm.

3. Preview the install

syllago install typescript --to claude-code --dry-run

--dry-run shows exactly what would be written to Claude Code’s directories without touching anything.

4. Install to Claude Code

syllago install typescript --to claude-code

By default this is a symlink, so later edits to the rule in your library reach Claude Code immediately. Pass --method copy for a standalone file.

5. Verify it worked

Claude Code reads rules from CLAUDE.md and .claude/rules/ in a project (and ~/.claude/rules/ globally). Syllago installs rules to the global directory, so check the install landed there:

ls ~/.claude/rules/

Start a Claude Code session and the rule is part of its context.

What syllago converted for you

Cursor stores rules as Markdown Component (MDC) files (.mdc with description, alwaysApply, and globs frontmatter); Claude Code expects plain Markdown, with file-scoping expressed through a paths field. syllago maps the metadata and converts the format during install — your library copy stays canonical, so the same rule can go to any other provider too. See Format Conversion for the field-by-field details.

Claude Code provider reference — file locations and capability details
syllago add and syllago install — full flag reference
Rules — how syllago models rules across providers