A developer's User Rule asks for one convention, the repository's project rules ask for another, and an enabled Team Rule asks for a third. Which source does Agent follow where the guidance conflicts?

The principle — Rules from different sources are applied in a fixed order: Team Rules, then Project Rules, then User Rules. All applicable rules are merged into the context, and the earlier source takes precedence where the guidance conflicts.

Why the key is correct — Team Rules are managed from the dashboard and sync to every member, so an organisational standard survives whatever a single repository or account says. Project rules, checked into the codebase, come next. A User Rule sits at the bottom, which is exactly why a personal preference that contradicts a project or team convention quietly loses: the developer keeps restating it in chat, session after session, with no visible sign of what is overruling them.

Why the others are wrong — The most-local-wins instinct is borrowed from editor configuration and lint cascades, where the nearest file overrides the outer one; rules run the other way, from the widest scope inwards. Putting the repository on top is only half right, because project rules outrank user rules but still yield to Team Rules. And recency plays no part: nothing about edit time enters the ordering, and the losing guidance is merged into context rather than removed, so the conflicting text is present and simply outranked.

Remember this — Precedence runs from the widest scope inwards: team, then project, then user.

Sources — Cursor's Rules documentation.