Cursor Plugin Create Create Plugin Scaffold

Create plugin scaffold

Trigger

You need to create a new Cursor plugin from scratch and make it ready for local use or marketplace submission.

Required Inputs

• Plugin name (lowercase kebab-case)
• Plugin purpose and target users
• Component set to include (rules, skills, agents, commands, hooks, mcpServers)
• Repository style (single-plugin or multi-plugin marketplace)

Output Location

By default, create the plugin inside the user's local plugin directory:

~/.cursor/plugins/local/<plugin-name>/

This path makes the plugin immediately available to Cursor without any install step. If the user explicitly asks to create the plugin elsewhere (e.g. inside an existing repo or a specific directory), respect that choice instead.

Workflow

1. Validate plugin name format: lowercase kebab-case, starts and ends with an alphanumeric character.
2. Determine the target directory:
   • Default: ~/.cursor/plugins/local/<plugin-name>/
   • Override: use the path the user specifies, if any.
   • Create the directory (and parents) if it does not exist.
3. Create base files inside the target directory:
   • .cursor-plugin/plugin.json
   • README.md
   • LICENSE
   • optional CHANGELOG.md
4. Populate plugin.json:
   • Required: name
   • Recommended: version, description, author, license, keywords
   • Add explicit component paths only when non-default discovery is needed.
5. Create component files with valid frontmatter:
   • Rules: .mdc with description, alwaysApply, optional globs
   • Skills: skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md with name, description
   • Agents: agents/*.md with name, description
   • Commands: commands/*.(md|txt) with name, description
6. If repository uses .cursor-plugin/marketplace.json, add plugin entry:
   • name
   • source
   • optional metadata (description, keywords, category, tags)
7. Ensure all manifest paths are relative, valid, and do not use absolute paths or parent traversal.

Guardrails

• Keep the plugin focused on one use case.
• Prefer concise, actionable skill and rule text over long prose.
• Do not reference files that do not exist.
• Use folder discovery defaults unless custom paths are required.
• Always save to ~/.cursor/plugins/local/<plugin-name>/ unless the user provides a different path.

Output

• Created file tree for the plugin (with full path to the output directory)
• Final plugin.json
• Marketplace entry (if applicable)
• Short validation report of required fields and component metadata
• Confirmation that the plugin is saved under ~/.cursor/plugins/local/ and ready for use