Cursor vs Devin | agentconfig.ing

Cursor vs DevinComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Cursor (IDE) uses mdc configuration while Devin (Agent) uses markdown. They differ on 5 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Cursor	Devin	Notes
Config format	mdc	markdown
Hierarchy support	✓	✓	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✓	✗	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✓
Subdirectory scoping	✓	✓	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	.cursorignore	✗
IDE integration	✓	Agent
Schema / structure	Hybrid (MDC frontmatter + Markdown)	Free-form (Markdown)	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Cursor

.cursor/rules/*.mdc

mdc

---
description: React component conventions and patterns
globs: "*.tsx"
alwaysApply: false
---

# React Component Rules

- Use functional components with explicit return types
- Define props interface directly above the component
- Export components as named exports, never default
- Use Tailwind CSS utility classes exclusively

Devin

AGENTS.md

markdown

# Agent Instructions

## Setup
- Python 3.12 with uv package manager
- PostgreSQL 16 and Redis 7
- Run: uv sync && uv run alembic upgrade head

## Commands
- Dev server: uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload
- Tests: uv run pytest -x --tb=short
- Lint: uv run ruff check . && uv run mypy .
- Format: uv run ruff format .

## Code Style
- FastAPI with async endpoints
- Pydantic v2 for all schemas
- SQLAlchemy 2.0 async sessions
- Repository pattern for data access

## PR Guidelines
- Keep PRs focused on a single issue
- Add tests for new functionality
- Run the full test suite before submitting

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Cursor: mdc. Devin: markdown.

2. Global config

Cursor: Supported. Devin: Not supported.

3. Ignore file

Cursor: .cursorignore. Devin: Not supported.

4. IDE integration

Cursor: Supported. Devin: Agent.

5. Schema / structure

Cursor: Hybrid (MDC frontmatter + Markdown). Devin: Free-form (Markdown).

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Cursor, configure .cursorrules. If you use Devin, configure AGENTS.md. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md