Encode banned patterns and architecture as scoped .cursor/rules/*.mdc files, not one .cursorrules blob

UI Bakery·medium signal

Cursor's modern rules system uses a .cursor/rules/ directory of .mdc files with YAML frontmatter, where each file sets alwaysApply, intelligent (model decides relevance), or manual activation — letting you scope architectural rules to the files they govern instead of one monolithic .cursorrules. Teams encoding conventions and banned patterns this way report ~70% fewer PR review comments and ~35% fewer TypeScript errors. The win is selective loading: rules fire only where relevant, keeping context clean.