For AI-native developers / CURSOR
A SaaS boilerplate
Cursor follows, and lint checks
Cursor rules shape what the agent writes. They do not stop it writing something else. Here is what useDeploy ships for Cursor, and which part is actually enforced.
How Cursor loads your rules
Per the official rules docs (https://cursor.com/docs/context/rules), project rules live in the .cursor/rules folder as .mdc files and are version-controlled. Frontmatter decides how each one loads: always, by file glob, when the agent judges it relevant from its description, or only when you @-mention it. A plain .md file in that folder is ignored because it has no frontmatter. Cursor also supports AGENTS.md in the project root and subdirectories, with the more specific file taking precedence. When a rule applies, its contents go at the start of the model context. Context, not enforcement.
What useDeploy ships today, file by file
| File in the repo | What it does | Who enforces it |
|---|---|---|
| .cursor/rules/architecture.mdc | Cursor rule scoped to the server modules (layering rules, points to AGENTS.md). | Cursor only. A rule is context, not a block. |
| AGENTS.md | Short architecture rules: layers, contracts, "done means green". Any agent that reads AGENTS.md gets them. | Context the agent reads. The rules it states are backed by the ESLint layer rules. |
| packages/eslint-config/ddd.js | ESLint layer rules: domain and application cannot import express, Prisma or BetterAuth; contexts talk through types. | Any tool, any editor. This is the part the agent cannot talk its way past. |
| .github/workflows/ci.yml | Lint and typecheck jobs run on every pull request (the test job too). | Any tool. This is the shared gate. |
| CLAUDE.md | Long-form operating manual: DDD layering, contracts, API regeneration, docs rules, design system. | Context only. Claude Code reads it at session start. |
What useDeploy does not ship for Cursor
One rule file: .cursor/rules/architecture.mdc, scoped to the server modules, not a full rule set per area of the app. There are no Cursor hooks equivalent to the Claude Code ones here; the Claude hooks do not run in Cursor. In Cursor the hard enforcement is the ESLint layer rules in your editor and the CI jobs, plus the "run bun run guardrails" instruction in AGENTS.md, which the agent may or may not follow. For a fuller rule set, see the guide on writing Cursor rules.
Honest comparison: others ship agent files too
useDeploy is our product, so weigh this accordingly. MakerKit, supastarter, Nextbase, ShipAny and Indie Kit also ship an AGENTS.md, rules files or agent skills for AI tools, and AnotherWrapper sells a blocking-hook harness ("Hooks, not instructions"). What useDeploy adds on top of AGENTS.md is the combination of ESLint layer rules, Claude Code hooks and a CI gate in the same repo. It is not the only kit with agent files, and a rules file alone, ours or anyone's, is only a request.
The open-source kit and the guides
Take the guardrails without the boilerplate
The hooks and settings are published as an MIT kit: https://github.com/KonixDev/claude-code-guardrails. Drop it into any repo with an ESLint config and a guardrails script.
Write the files yourself
Guides: /blog/claude-md-file-example-saas (CLAUDE.md), /blog/claude-code-hooks-enforce-architecture (hooks), /blog/cursor-rules-nextjs-typescript (Cursor rules), /blog/claude-code-skills-subagents-architecture-review (skills and subagents).
Compare the kits
Roundup by use case, with the cases where another kit fits better.
Other AI tools
Claude Code
How Claude Code loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
OpenAI Codex
How OpenAI Codex loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
Windsurf
How Windsurf loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
GitHub Copilot
How GitHub Copilot loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
AGENTS.md
How AGENTS.md loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
AI coding agents: the overview
The overview of the guardrails every AI tool shares: layer rules, typed contracts and the CI gate.
FAQ
Does Cursor read AGENTS.md?+
Can Cursor break the DDD layers anyway?+
How much does useDeploy cost?+
| Price | Founder $99 or Lifetime $199, one-time payment (no subscription) |
|---|---|
| License | Full source, commercial use, unlimited projects. Founder is a frozen snapshot; Lifetime includes every future release. |
| Stack | Next.js frontend, Express API, Bun runtime, Prisma, BetterAuth |
| Auth | BetterAuth: sessions, 2FA, magic links, password reset |
| Multi-tenancy and RBAC | Organizations with members, invitations, roles and permissions |
| Payments | Polar: full billing (checkout, customer portal, webhooks, plan sync). MercadoPago: Checkout Pro one-time payments with signed webhooks; subscriptions are not supported yet. Stripe: adapter scaffold, not charging yet. |
| Guardrails for AI agents | ESLint-enforced architecture layers, Claude Code hooks and an AGENTS.md |
| Refund | 14 days |
| Try it: free account | Sign up free and explore the dashboard: organizations, roles, billing, audit log. You buy the license from inside. https://usedeploy.dev/register |
| Docs | Documentation in English, with Spanish and Portuguese translations of the main guides |
Rules the agent reads, walls it cannot cross.
Start from a base where the architecture is enforced by lint and CI, and the agent files are already written.