Cursor's .cursorignore: keep project noise out of AI context

The bad default is letting Cursor index every file in a repo. A .cursorignore file lets you exclude files and folders from Cursor's indexing and AI context. 1

Use it in the project root when generated output, local credentials, binary assets, or third-party code would add noise. Cursor respects .gitignore; .cursorignore adds extra exclusions beyond it. 1

The important limit is on the cards: ignored files are blocked from indexing and Agent, but terminal commands and MCP tools run outside Cursor's file-access controls and may still be able to read them. 1