# The Secret To Getting AI To Code Like Experts Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ODNyEZn0vs Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/_ODNyEZn0vs Generated: 2025-11-13T15:33:45.948+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview The video demonstrates how to customize Cursor AI by creating and applying specific rules within the `.cursor/rules` directory, showing how to create a custom rule file (like `test.mdc`) for a specific tech stack (React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS) and applying it manually or intelligently to tailor the AI's output, ultimately leading to better, context-aware code generation. **Key Points:** - The presenter customizes Cursor AI's behavior by creating a new rule file named `test.mdc` inside the `.cursor/rules` directory (00:59, 06:53). - The custom rule defines the user's tech stack, including React 19, TypeScript, Vite, and Tailwind CSS, to ensure contextually relevant code generation (03:14, 05:33). - The presenter shows that rules can be set to 'Always Apply', 'Apply Intelligently', 'Apply to Specific Files', or 'Apply Manually' (08:02). - The existing 'senior-rule.mdc' is shown to 'Always Apply' globally, while the new 'test.mdc' is set to 'Apply Manually' (08:08, 08:50). - An example query asking for the tech stack returns highly specific, customized results based on the rules, differentiating between best-fit and not-a-fit scenarios (03:53). - The video emphasizes that rules should be tailored to the specific application, such as front-end vs. back-end development, to maximize the AI's utility (08:37, 08:40). ![Screenshot at 00:10: The presenter navigates the Cursor IDE, showing the main UI with the chat interface on the left and the settings panel open on the right, highlighting the context of customizing AI behavior.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-00-10.png) **Context:** The video is a tutorial demonstrating advanced customization within the Cursor IDE, specifically focusing on utilizing custom 'Rules' files located in the `.cursor/rules` directory to tailor the behavior of the integrated AI agent (Composer 1). The presenter uses their current project's tech stack (a modern React application using Vite and TypeScript) as the context for creating and testing these personalized AI instructions. ## Detailed Analysis The core value of this tutorial is showing users how to create highly specific, project-aware rules for the Cursor AI agent to generate expert-level code. The presenter first queries the AI about the current project's tech stack (React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS) and receives a detailed breakdown, including high-priority matches and suggestions for better-fitting rules (03:53). The tutorial then shifts to demonstrating rule creation in the IDE's file explorer, showing the `.cursor/rules` directory where custom rule files like `senior-rule.mdc` and a temporary `test.mdc` are stored (06:55). The presenter explains that rules can be set to 'Always Apply' across all chats, or more granularly, 'Apply Manually' via an @mention or 'Apply to Specific Files' using glob patterns (08:02). The rule content itself is a detailed persona prompt (e.g., "You are a Senior Front-End Developer...") that the AI adheres to. The final takeaway is that by creating tailored rules for front-end versus back-end stacks, users ensure the AI provides contextually accurate and high-quality code suggestions specific to their project requirements (08:18, 10:11). ### Cursor AI Customization - Demonstrating the initial query asking 'What is my tech stack?' - Receiving a detailed analysis of the stack, including high-priority and secondary choices - Highlighting that the AI understands context from configuration files (03:14, 03:53). ### Rule File Management - Navigating to the `.cursor/rules` directory in the file explorer - Showing existing rules like `senior-rule.mdc` and creating a new `test.mdc` file (06:55, 07:25). ### Configuring Rule Application - Opening the settings for a rule file to set the 'Always Apply' dropdown - Options include 'Always Apply', 'Apply Intelligently', 'Apply to Specific Files', and 'Apply Manually' (08:02). ### Back-end Rule Specificity - Explaining the importance of creating separate rules for front-end versus back-end contexts, even if the tech stack is similar (08:37, 08:40). ### Rule Content Example - Showing the detailed markdown content of a rule, including persona definition and specific coding implementation guidelines (05:31). ![Screenshot at 00:10: Reviewing the initial landing page of the Thumio AI Thumbnail Editor application being demoed \(Thumio.com\).](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-00-10.png) ![Screenshot at 00:44: The Cursor IDE interface showing the chat panel on the left and the settings panel open on the right, where rules and memories are managed.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-00-44.png) ![Screenshot at 01:01: Navigation within Cursor Settings, highlighting the 'Rules, Memories, Commands' section.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-01-01.png) ![Screenshot at 03:35: A screenshot of the tech stack analysis output in the chat window, listing high and medium priority matches based on configuration files.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-03-35.png) ![Screenshot at 06:53: Viewing the content of the newly created test.mdc rule file, which contains an alwaysApply: true directive.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-06-53.png) ![Screenshot at 08:02: The 'Always Apply' dropdown menu shown in the rule editor, revealing options like 'Apply Intelligently' and 'Apply Manually'.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-08-02.png) ![Screenshot at 09:34: The file explorer view showing the .cursor/rules directory containing senior-rule.mdc and the temporary test.mdc file.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-09-34.png) ![Screenshot at 10:01: The final, detailed output from the AI agent after implementing the customized rules, showing an optimized stack analysis.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/_ODNyEZn0vs/00-10-01.png)