# One set of AI standards, every tool: Cursor, Claude Code, and Copilot

> Source: <https://dev.to/prathakmalik/one-set-of-ai-standards-every-tool-cursor-claude-code-and-copilot-1pbi>
> Published: 2026-08-14 07:55:32+00:00

Part 2 of the

agent-standards-as-codeseries.[Part 1]made the case for versioning your AI standards as code. This post makes them work across tools and operating systems. Code pinned at[.]`v0.2`

In part 1 we put our AI coding standards in one git repo and auto-synced them into Cursor. Great — until a teammate says "I use Claude Code," another says "we're on Copilot in VS Code," and half the team is on macOS while you're on Windows.

If your standards only work in one tool on one OS, they're not really *team* standards. Here's how v0.2 fixes that.

Each tool reads its config from a different place, in a slightly different format:

`~/.cursor/skills/`

, rules as `.mdc`

in `~/.cursor/rules/`

.`~/.claude/skills/`

, guidance in `CLAUDE.md`

/ `AGENTS.md`

.`.github/skills/`

or `~/.copilot/skills/`

, guidance in `.github/copilot-instructions.md`

.`~/.codex/skills/`

, guidance in `AGENTS.md`

.Two things save us from writing four different content sets.

The [Agent Skills](https://agentskills.io) standard defines a `SKILL.md`

format that Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot, and Codex all understand. A skill is a folder with a `SKILL.md`

whose frontmatter has a `name`

and a trigger-rich `description`

. **Write it once, it runs everywhere.** The sync just links that folder into each tool's skills directory.

(One sharp edge: the `name`

must be lowercase-hyphen and match the folder, or tools silently skip it. The repo's CI enforces this so you can't ship a broken skill.)

`AGENTS.md`

is the portable base for rules
Rules are less standardized. So we keep a single portable `AGENTS.md`

— the tool-agnostic standing guidance — and let each tool consume it:

`AGENTS.md`

(or a synced `CLAUDE.md`

) directly.`.github/copilot-instructions.md`

that points at `AGENTS.md`

.`.mdc`

rules (which support `globs`

and `alwaysApply`

).The **adapters/** folder documents exactly where each tool expects things, so there's no guessing.

```
Git repo: skills/ + rules/ + AGENTS.md
        │  setup.(ps1|sh) + git hooks
        ╚
  ├───────────↴────────────↴───────────↴──────────└
Cursor     Claude Code   Copilot     Codex
(junction) (symlink)     (.github)   (symlink)
```

The sync uses the right primitive per OS automatically:

`mklink /J`

) — no admin required (unlike symlinks).`ln -s`

).So `setup.ps1`

and `setup.sh`

do the same job on either platform. A `.gitattributes`

keeps `.sh`

files LF-normalized so they don't break when cloned on Windows.

The scripts also **detect installed tools** — they only sync into `~/.claude`

if it exists, so nobody ends up with empty folders for tools they don't use.

```
git clone https://github.com/prathakmalik/agent-standards-kit.git
cd agent-standards-kit
# Windows:      ./scripts/setup.ps1
# macOS/Linux:  ./scripts/setup.sh
```

Whatever tools you have installed now share the same skills and rules. Change the repo, `git pull`

, and every tool on every machine updates together.

Tool choice becomes a personal preference again, not a standards fork. A new hire on Claude Code gets the exact same guardrails as a veteran on Cursor — from the same reviewed source of truth.

**Coming up next (v0.3):** a source of truth is only useful if it stays *true*. Next post: the ** nudge -> skill -> PR loop** that keeps your standards from rotting, plus how to adapt the kit to any tech stack.

*⭐ the repo if this is useful — it genuinely helps.*