Cursor AI global ignore list

1. The purpose of this list

Cursor AI (or similar AI code assistants) can scan your project files to provide contextual code suggestions.
However, some files are sensitive or irrelevant, such as:

• Secrets (API keys, passwords)
• Certificates
• Private keys
• Local environment configs
• Large dependencies (sometimes)

This list ensures Cursor ignores those files, so:

• Sensitive info isn’t exposed in AI suggestions
• AI suggestions remain relevant and safe
• Performance is better because huge or unnecessary files aren’t read

2. Breakdown of patterns

Pattern	What it ignores	Why
**/.env	Any .env file in any folder	Environment variables with secrets
**/.env.*	Any .env with suffix, e.g., .env.local	More environment configs
**/credentials.json	Credential files	API keys, login info
**/credentials.*.json	Variant credential files	Same as above
**/secret.json / **/secrets.json	Secret storage	Sensitive config
**/*.key	Any .key file	Private keys for SSL, SSH, etc.
**/*.pem	PEM certificate/key files	SSL or crypto keys
**/*.pfx / **/*.p12	PKCS12 certificates	Used for encryption or signing
**/*.crt / **/*.cer	Public certificates	Usually safe, but maybe ignored for consistency
**/id_rsa / **/id_dsa / **/.ssh/id_*	SSH private keys	Extremely sensitive, should never be shared
**/.cursor/mcp.json	Cursor’s internal metadata	Not relevant for suggestions
**/*.fish	Fish shell scripts	Could be ignored if not needed for coding context

Notes on **:

• The ** is a glob pattern meaning “match any folder recursively.”

• For example, **/.env matches .env in the root or in any subfolder.

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3. Key importance

1. Security: Protects sensitive keys, secrets, and credentials.

2. Relevance: Prevents AI from reading unnecessary files, so suggestions stay accurate.

3. Performance: Cursor skips large or irrelevant files (like private keys or config files).

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✅ Bottom line:
This is a safety and performance measure. You shouldn’t remove it, unless you specifically want Cursor to read some files (and are aware of the risk of exposing secrets).