Cursor vs Gemini Code Assist

Cursor vs Gemini Code AssistComparisonUpdated 2026-03-18

SUMMARY

Cursor (IDE) uses mdc configuration while Gemini Code Assist (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 4 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Cursor	Gemini Code Assist	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	✓	✓
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

Gemini Code Assist

GEMINI.md

markdown

# Project Rules

## Overview
E-commerce platform built with Go microservices and React frontend.
All services communicate via gRPC with Protocol Buffers.

## Go Services
- Follow standard Go project layout (cmd/, internal/, pkg/)
- Use structured logging with slog (not log or fmt.Println)
- Error handling: always wrap errors with fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
- Database access through repository pattern in internal/repo/
- All public functions must have godoc comments

## API Design
- Proto files live in proto/ directory with buf for linting
- Use field masks for partial updates
- Pagination via cursor-based tokens, not offset

## Testing
- Table-driven tests for all business logic
- Use testcontainers-go for integration tests
- Minimum 80% coverage on internal/ packages
- Mock external services with gomock interfaces

## Do Not
- Use global variables or init() functions
- Import internal packages across service boundaries
- Commit generated .pb.go files (CI generates them)

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Cursor: mdc. Gemini Code Assist: markdown.

2. Global config

Cursor: Supported. Gemini Code Assist: Not supported.

3. Ignore file

Cursor: .cursorignore. Gemini Code Assist: Not supported.

4. Schema / structure

Cursor: Hybrid (MDC frontmatter + Markdown). Gemini Code Assist: Free-form (Markdown).

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Cursor, configure .cursorrules. If you use Gemini Code Assist, configure GEMINI.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