Claude Skills (SKILL.md) vs Cursor Rules (.cursorrules): What's the Difference?
Understand the difference between Claude Skills (SKILL.md) and Cursor Rules (.cursorrules). How to convert between formats and which to use for your team.
Both Claude Skills and Cursor Rules customize AI coding assistant behavior, but they work differently and offer different capabilities.
Format & Structure
Claude Skills use SKILL.md files with frontmatter metadata (trigger conditions, descriptions) and markdown instructions. They are modular, reusable packages designed to be shared.
Cursor Rules use .cursorrules files (plain text) or Project Rules (markdown in .cursor/rules/) that define behavior for the entire project or specific file patterns.
Portability
Claude Skills are designed for portability — each skill is self-contained and can be installed/removed independently. They work across Claude Code, Kiro, and Codex CLI.
Cursor Rules are tied to the Cursor editor. They cannot be used in other tools without manual conversion.
Capability
Claude Skills can include trigger conditions, multi-step workflows, and supporting scripts. They activate based on task context.
Cursor Rules are always active (or pattern-matched to files) and provide continuous background guidance. They are simpler but less dynamic.
Ecosystem Size
Claude Skills: 14,000+ community-contributed skills available. Cursor Rules: Growing collection (1,000+) on cursor.directory and GitHub.
Converting Between Formats
Many Claude Skills can be simplified into Cursor Rules by extracting the core instructions and removing frontmatter. The reverse (converting rules to skills) usually means adding trigger conditions and metadata.
Recommendation
Use Claude Skills if you want modular, portable customizations that work across tools. Use Cursor Rules if you exclusively use Cursor and prefer always-on background guidance.