How Cursor Directory grows

Called his co-founder on landing; Viktor designed in Figma while Pontus started a Next.js project with a hard-coded JSON file of rules found online. Had a clickable version on Vercel in about half an hour, bought the exact-match domain cursor.directory, and finished the site in 3 hours, then iterated. Reused components and a design system from previous startups and stuck to a stack they already knew.

While watching Cursor videos on a flight, noticed the common pattern of Cursor rules and that there was no single place to find them (only obscure GitHub gists and forums). Built a directory for that audience at the moment the tool was taking off. Directories still work if built for the right audience at the right time: catch the wave and own it.

Posted Cursor Directory on X at release, plus several follow-up posts, to the developer following they had built by sharing everything they do in public, down to the open-source code. Kept sharing knowledge along the way.

The project is open source and rules are contributed and merged via GitHub. Users can register, become community members, post their own rules and upvote others.

Content is free. Companies pay to list job ads, and listings (e.g. MCP servers) can pay to be featured on the site.

In the launch week, also posted Cursor Directory on Hacker News. It reached the front page, and many YouTubers then featured it in their videos.

Some months after launch, when MCPs emerged, added a searchable MCP section so developers could find ways to extend Cursor.

Built a generator: upload a JavaScript package.json (which lists dependencies) and get Cursor rules tailored to that project, because developers wanted tailored setups but didn't know how to start.

Has a designer co-founder and a reusable design system from previous startups. Formula: keep it simple, find sites you love and 'steal with pride', learn their patterns and tone, follow designers on X, and pick a tonality you believe in, since AI-built sites all look the same.