For AI-native developers / WINDSURF
A SaaS boilerplate
for Windsurf, with no extra rules file
useDeploy has no Windsurf-specific file. It relies on the AGENTS.md at the repo root, backed by lint and CI. Here is what the docs say about that, and what to add if your setup needs it.
How Windsurf loads your rules
Windsurf's AGENTS.md docs page (https://docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/agents-md) now redirects to Devin's docs; there, AGENTS.md files are described as read as always-on rules, and the legacy .windsurf/rules files, global_rules.md and .windsurfrules are said to be imported by default. The agents.md site also lists Windsurf among the tools that support AGENTS.md. We have not run every Windsurf build against this repo, so check that your version picks up the root AGENTS.md. The rest of the evidence is documentation, not a test of ours.
What useDeploy ships today, file by file
| File in the repo | What it does | Who enforces it |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Windsurf
No .windsurfrules and no .windsurf/rules folder. The route we take is to point Windsurf at AGENTS.md instead of keeping a second copy of the rules. If your build does not read it, add a rule file in .windsurf/rules (legacy path, still imported) that says to follow the root AGENTS.md. The Claude Code hooks do not run in Windsurf, so enforcement there is lint plus CI, with the agent asked in AGENTS.md to run bun run guardrails.
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.
Cursor
How Cursor loads its rules, and what useDeploy covers for it.
OpenAI Codex
How OpenAI Codex 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 Windsurf read AGENTS.md?+
Why not ship a .windsurfrules file?+
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.