Cursor Production Checklist

Overview

Use this gate before enabling Cursor for a production repository or team workflow. It verifies governance, context controls, review, and incident ownership—not the correctness of any generated code.

Prerequisites

• A named repository/tenant owner, data classification, and approved privacy/model policy.
• Reviewed rules/ignore files, identity controls, and a rollback path for tenant configuration.

Instructions

1. Complete each control with evidence: privacy setting, access model, exclusions, rules, review, tests, and support route.
2. Pilot in a representative non-sensitive repository and verify expected context boundaries.
3. Hold production enablement when any security, identity, data, or ownership gate is unverified.
4. Record the go/no-go decision and schedule periodic access/rule review.

Output

• A production-readiness record with owner, evidence links, exceptions, and verification date.

Error Handling

Examples

Pilot one repository with Privacy Mode, SSO, reviewed .cursorignore, and a pull-request review requirement. Verify a sample sensitive path cannot be added to context before signing off the production checklist.

Comprehensive checklist for configuring Cursor IDE for production use. Covers security hardening, project rules, indexing optimization, privacy settings, and team standardization.

Pre-Flight Checklist

Authentication & Licensing

[ ] All team members authenticated with correct plan (Pro/Business/Enterprise)
[ ] SSO configured (Business/Enterprise) -- see cursor-sso-integration skill
[ ] Privacy Mode enabled (enforced at team level for Business+)
[ ] Verify plan at cursor.com/settings

Project Rules

[ ] .cursor/rules/ directory created and committed to git
[ ] Core project rule with alwaysApply: true (stack, conventions, standards)
[ ] Language-specific rules with glob patterns (*.ts, *.py, etc.)
[ ] Security rule: "Never suggest hardcoded credentials or secrets"
[ ] No sensitive data (API keys, passwords) in any rule file

Minimum viable rule set:

# .cursor/rules/project.mdc
---
description: "Core project context"
globs: ""
alwaysApply: true
---
# Project: [Name]
Stack: [framework, language, database, etc.]
Package manager: [npm/pnpm/yarn]

## Conventions
- [your team conventions here]
- Never commit console.log statements
- All functions require TypeScript return types
- Use Conventional Commits format

# .cursor/rules/security.mdc
---
description: "Security constraints for AI-generated code"
globs: ""
alwaysApply: true
---
# Security Rules
- NEVER hardcode API keys, passwords, or secrets in code
- NEVER disable HTTPS/TLS verification
- ALWAYS use parameterized queries (no string concatenation for SQL)
- ALWAYS validate and sanitize user input
- Use environment variables for all configuration values

Indexing Configuration

[ ] .cursorignore created at project root
[ ] Excluded: node_modules/, dist/, build/, .next/, vendor/
[ ] Excluded: *.min.js, *.map, *.lock, *.sqlite
[ ] Excluded: .env*, secrets/, credentials/
[ ] .cursorindexingignore created for large-but-useful files
[ ] Verified indexing completes (status bar shows "Indexed")
[ ] Tested @Codebase queries return relevant results

Privacy & Security

[ ] Privacy Mode: ON (Cursor Settings > General > Privacy Mode)
[ ] Verified: cursor.com/settings shows "Privacy Mode: Enabled"
[ ] .cursorignore covers all files with PII or regulated data
[ ] API keys (if BYOK) stored in Cursor settings, NOT in project files
[ ] Team members briefed: AI output is a draft, not production-ready code

AI Configuration

[ ] Default model set (Cursor Settings > Models)
[ ] BYOK configured if required by team (see cursor-api-key-management skill)
[ ] Auto mode evaluated vs fixed model selection
[ ] Tab completion enabled and tested
[ ] Conflicting extensions disabled (Copilot, TabNine, Codeium)

Version Control Integration

[ ] .cursor/rules/ committed to git (team shares rules)
[ ] .cursorignore committed to git
[ ] .cursorindexingignore committed to git
[ ] AI-generated commit messages reviewed before pushing
[ ] Pre-commit hooks run (linting, tests) regardless of AI-generated code

Team Onboarding Template

# Cursor IDE Onboarding

## Setup (15 minutes)
1. Download Cursor from cursor.com/download
2. Sign in with your @company.com email (SSO will redirect)
3. Open our project repository in Cursor
4. Wait for indexing to complete (status bar)

## Daily Workflow
- Cmd+L (Chat): Ask questions, plan features
- Cmd+K (Inline Edit): Fix/refactor selected code
- Cmd+I (Composer): Multi-file changes
- Tab: Accept AI completions while typing

## Our Rules
- Project rules are in .cursor/rules/ -- read them
- Always review AI-generated code before committing
- Start new chats for new tasks (don't continue stale conversations)
- Use @Files for specific context, @Codebase for discovery

## Prohibited
- Do NOT paste credentials into Chat/Composer
- Do NOT disable Privacy Mode
- Do NOT commit AI-generated code without review and testing

Maintenance Schedule

Production Anti-Patterns

Enterprise Considerations

• Compliance documentation: Maintain records of Cursor configuration for SOC 2 / ISO 27001 audits
• Change management: Treat .cursor/rules/ changes like infrastructure changes -- PR and review
• Access reviews: Quarterly review of team membership and seat assignments
• Data classification: Map .cursorignore to your data classification policy

Resources

• Cursor Enterprise
• Privacy and Data Governance
• Security Page