Cursor DESIGN.md for AI coding agents

Dima BravenDima Braven·

AI-first code editor. Dark, minimal, keyboard-centric devtool.

devtooldarkcursordesign-md
Cursor screenshot
CursorClaude CodeCodexGoogle Stitch

Design System Overview

The Cursor design system captures the visual language of a well-known design and creative tools product. This DESIGN.md file distills its color palette, typography, spacing scale, and component patterns into a format that AI coding agents can read and follow when generating UI.

AI-first code editor. Dark, minimal, keyboard-centric devtool.

AI agents like Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and Google Stitch can reference this file to produce UI that visually matches the Cursor aesthetic — consistent colors, proportional spacing, and recognizable component patterns — without requiring explicit pixel-by-pixel instructions for every element.

Browse more design and creative tools design systems or explore the full DESIGN.md directory.

Color System

Brand palette extracted from the design system. Click any swatch to copy the hex value.

Text / Primary

#f7f7f4

Accent

#26251e

Surface / Background

#e6e5e0

Border / Subtle

#050503

Color Tokens

Typography Specimen

CursorGothic

Display

2.8rem / 700 / 1.04

The quick brown fox

Heading H1

2rem / 700 / 1.1

The quick brown fox jumps

Heading H2

1.5rem / 600 / 1.15

The quick brown fox jumps over

Heading H3

1.125rem / 600 / 1.2

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy

Body

1rem / 400 / 1.5

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Small / Caption

0.75rem / 400 / 1.5

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and sat down.

Monospace

const primary = "System";

Layout & Spacing Tokens

Spacing Scale

space-14px
space-28px
space-312px
space-416px
space-624px
space-832px
space-1248px
space-1664px

Border Radius

radius-none0px
radius-sm4px
radius-md8px
radius-lg16px
radius-xl24px
radius-full9999px

Elevation & Shadow

Flatshadow-none
XSshadow-xs
SMshadow-sm
MDshadow-md
LGshadow-lg
XLshadow-xl

Use with AI Coding Agents

Copy one of these prompts into your AI coding agent to apply the Cursor design system to your project. The DESIGN.md file in your repo root is the source of truth.

# .cursor/rules (or DESIGN.md)
You are working in a project that uses the Cursor design system.

Read the DESIGN.md file in this project root and follow it strictly when generating UI.
Match the brand's exact colors, typography, spacing scale, and border radius.
Do not create generic Tailwind UI — apply the visual language from DESIGN.md.

Key rules:
- Use the defined color palette, not arbitrary hex values
- Apply the correct font family and weight scale
- Follow spacing tokens (4/8/12/16/24/32px scale)
- Match component patterns: buttons, cards, inputs, badges as specified

Frequently Asked Questions