Import Depth Within Limit

Cursor's @filename syntax in AGENTS.md and .cursor/rules/*.mdc is single-level only — referenced files are pulled into context, but @<path> syntax inside those referenced files is not transitively followed. This stub supersedes the more permissive CORE ceiling with Cursor's actual single-level model so a chained-import pattern (which Cursor does not honor) is flagged early.

Antipatterns

• Assuming transitive resolution. Writing @docs/setup.md in AGENTS.md and embedding @docs/details.md inside docs/setup.md expecting the second file to load. Cursor only reads the first reference; the inner @<path> is rendered as text.
• Using @<path> to simulate include chains. Treating @filename as Claude Code's @import and building multi-level hierarchies. The agent loads exactly one level of references.

Pass / Fail

Pass

<!-- AGENTS.md -->
@docs/style/formatting.md
@docs/testing-conventions.md

Fail

<!-- AGENTS.md (depth 0) -->
@docs/overview.md

<!-- docs/overview.md (depth 1) -->
@docs/details.md   ← Cursor will not follow this; depth 2 reached

Limitations

Counts depth from the root instruction file. Cursor's documentation does not formalize whether multi-level @<path> chains are silently truncated or fully ignored — this rule treats anything past depth 1 as a smell so authors don't rely on a behavior the docs don't promise. Other inclusion mechanisms (e.g., a cursor.json reference list) are not detected.