cursor-ide Stinger

The knowledge repository for cursor-ide-wasp-drone. Covers Hivemind's real Cursor surface: the Cursor 1.7+ hooks harness, the first-party Cursor extension, registering the Wasp Nestmind MCP server in Cursor, and the .cursor/ colony (rules, agents, skills, commands, model matrix) that this repo ships.

This is the platform knowledge that keeps the colony working inside Cursor: the rules .mdc format, the hooks lifecycle, MCP registration, the agents/skills/commands layout, and the cursor harness install.

When this stinger applies

Load whenever cursor-ide-wasp-drone is invoked. Typical triggers (any of these phrases):

• "wire the Cursor hooks" / "what does install-cursor do" / "hooks.json" / "Cursor 1.7 hooks"
• "add a .cursor/rules/*.mdc" / "fix this rule" / "rule frontmatter" / "alwaysApply / globs"
• "register the Wasp Nestmind MCP server in Cursor" / "mcp.json in Cursor"
• "the cursor extension" / "harnesses/cursor/extension" / "the dashboard webview / status bar"
• "the colony layout" / "where do agents/skills/commands live" / "the-pest-controller / the-smoker"
• "model-comparison-matrix"

Do NOT load for:

• Code quality / typing of the TypeScript source itself (typescript-node-wasp-drone).
• The MCP protocol internals of src/mcp/server.ts: tool schemas, transport (mcp-protocol-wasp-drone).
• Harness wiring for Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, or other agents (harness-integration-wasp-drone).

First action when loaded

Read in order before acting:

1. guides/01-principles.md: the Wasp Nestmind Cursor surface map, the rules .mdc mental model, and the hard directives (idempotent hook merge, em-dash ban, Cursor field shape).
2. The task-specific guide:
   • 02 for .cursor/rules/*.mdc authoring.
   • 03 for registering the Wasp Nestmind MCP server in Cursor.
   • 04 for the Cursor hooks lifecycle (the 6 events + install-cursor.ts).
   • 05 for the .cursor/ colony layout.
   • 06 for the cursor extension build.

Folder layout

cursor-ide-stinger/
+- SKILL.md                          (this file, master index)
+- guides/
|  +- 01-principles.md               (the Wasp Nestmind Cursor surface; rules model; hard directives)
|  +- 02-rule-file-authoring.md      (.cursor/rules/*.mdc frontmatter, globs, activation modes)
|  +- 03-mcp-integration.md          (registering the Wasp Nestmind MCP server in Cursor)
|  +- 04-cursor-hooks-lifecycle.md   (hooks.json 1.7+, the 6 events, install-cursor.ts wiring)
|  +- 05-cursor-army-layout.md       (.cursor/ rules + agents + skills + commands + model matrix)
|  +- 06-extension-development.md    (harnesses/cursor/extension build, contributions, MCP/hooks surface)
+- examples/
|  +- rule-file-examples.md          (worked .mdc examples, including this repo's live rules)
|  +- mcp-server-example.md          (registering hivemind in Cursor mcp.json + the extension path)
|  +- hooks-wiring-example.md        (a real ~/.cursor/hooks.json after install-cursor)
+- templates/
|  +- rule-file-template.mdc         (canonical .mdc frontmatter template)
|  +- hooks-json-template.json       (Cursor 1.7+ hooks.json wiring template)
+- reports/
|  +- README.md
+- research/                         (Cursor 1.7+ hooks/rules notes, dated 2026-06-16)
   +- research-plan.md
   +- research-summary.md
   +- index.md
   +- internal/  (live repo artifacts)
   +- external/  (Cursor hooks + rules docs)

Critical directives

Stinger-level non-negotiables that cursor-ide-wasp-drone enforces on every invocation:

• Cursor's hooks.json schema differs from Claude/Codex. Array entries under each event are command objects directly ({ type, command, timeout }), with NO outer { hooks: [...] } wrapper and NO top-level matcher wrapper. See guides/04.
• Hook merges must stay idempotent and Windows-safe. install-cursor.ts strips prior Hivemind entries (matched on a normalized /.cursor/hivemind/bundle/ path so backslash paths on Windows do not duplicate) before re-adding, and only rewrites hooks.json when content changed so it does not perturb Cursor's trust fingerprint.
• .cursor/rules/*.mdc is the only rules format. This repo ships .mdc rules with frontmatter (description / globs / alwaysApply). Never introduce a .cursorrules file here.
• Prefer alwaysApply: false with a narrow glob or a sharp description. Reserve alwaysApply: true for short, always-true directives (this repo uses it only for no-em-dashes.mdc).
• NO em dashes, ever. Write hyphens directly. This is enforced by .cursor/rules/no-em-dashes.mdc and applies to every file this Drone authors.

Key facts by domain (quick reference)

The Wasp Nestmind Cursor surface (what this repo actually ships)

Surface	Path	Purpose
Hook installer	src/cli/install-cursor.ts	Merges ~/.cursor/hooks.json, copies the bundle to ~/.cursor/hivemind/bundle/
Hook bundle	harnesses/cursor/bundle/	Built hook scripts (session-start.js, capture.js, pre-tool-use.js, graph-on-stop.js, session-end.js)
Extension	harnesses/cursor/extension/	First-party VS Code/Cursor extension: status bar, onboarding, dashboard webview, codebase graph, skill sync
MCP server	src/mcp/server.ts	stdio server exposing hivemind_search / hivemind_read / hivemind_index
Colony	.cursor/	rules/*.mdc, agents/*.md, skills/<base>-stinger/, commands/, model-comparison-matrix.md

Cursor 1.7+ hooks (~/.cursor/hooks.json)

{
  "version": 1,
  "hooks": {
    "sessionStart":        [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/session-start.js\"", "timeout": 30 }],
    "beforeSubmitPrompt":  [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 10 }],
    "preToolUse":          [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/pre-tool-use.js\"", "timeout": 30, "matcher": "Shell" }],
    "postToolUse":         [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 15 }],
    "afterAgentResponse":  [{ "type": "command", "command": "node \"...bundle/capture.js\"", "timeout": 15 }],
    "stop":                [{ "...": "capture.js + graph-on-stop.js" }],
    "sessionEnd":          [{ "...": "session-end.js + graph-on-stop.js" }]
  }
}

Six lifecycle events are wired: sessionStart, beforeSubmitPrompt, preToolUse (Shell matcher rewrites grep/rg against ~/.deeplake/memory/ into a SQL fast path), postToolUse, afterAgentResponse, stop, and sessionEnd. graph-on-stop.js auto-builds the code graph on stop and sessionEnd (gated, async, never blocks Cursor).

Rules (.cursor/rules/*.mdc)

Cursor project rules are .mdc files with frontmatter. Activation is driven by three fields:

Mode	alwaysApply	globs	description
Always Apply	true	any	any
Apply to Specific Files	false	set	any
Apply Intelligently	false	unset	set
Apply Manually	false	unset	unset

This repo's live rules: no-em-dashes.mdc (alwaysApply), plan-construction-protocol.mdc, respect-agent-work-boundaries.mdc.

MCP registration in Cursor

The Wasp Nestmind MCP server (src/mcp/server.ts, stdio) exposes hivemind_search, hivemind_read, hivemind_index. To use it inside Cursor, add a mcpServers entry to .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) pointing at the built server. See guides/03.

Pairing

Role	Artifact
This stinger	.
Paired Drone	../../agents/cursor-ide-wasp-drone.md
Harness Drone (other agents)	../../agents/harness-integration-wasp-drone.md
MCP protocol Drone	../../agents/mcp-protocol-wasp-drone.md
Orchestrator commands	.cursor/commands/the-pest-controller.md, .cursor/commands/the-smoker.md

Refresh cadence

• Guides 01-06: refresh on any Cursor major version, or when install-cursor.ts / the extension package.json changes.
• Research folder: re-run on any Cursor 1.x hooks API change.

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Part of The Wasp Nest, curated by Mario Aldayuz a.k.a @thenotoriousllama.