SUMMARY
Amazon Q Developer (CLI) uses markdown configuration while Cursor (IDE) uses mdc. They differ on 6 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.
FEATURE COMPARISON
| Feature | Amazon Q Developer | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Config format | markdown | mdc |
| Hierarchy support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Global config | ✓ | ✓ |
| Project config | ✓ | ✓ |
| Subdirectory scoping | ✗ | ✓ |
| File inclusion / imports | ✗ | ✗ |
| Ignore file | ✗ | .cursorignore |
| IDE integration | CLI | ✓ |
| Schema / structure | Free-form (Markdown) | Hybrid (MDC frontmatter + Markdown) |
| Git committed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Encoding | UTF-8 | UTF-8 |
FILE MAPPING
| Purpose | Amazon Q Developer | Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| Project rules | .amazonq/rules/*.md | .cursor/rules/*.mdc |
SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES
# React Component Standards
## Purpose
Ensure consistent React component patterns across the frontend codebase.
## Priority
High
## Instructions
- Use functional components with TypeScript
- Define props interfaces above the component
- Use React.FC only when children are expected
- Colocate styles using CSS Modules (*.module.css)
- Extract hooks into separate files when reused
- Memoize expensive computations with useMemo
- Use React.lazy for route-level code splitting
---
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
KEY DIFFERENCES
Amazon Q Developer: markdown. Cursor: mdc.
Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Cursor: Supported.
Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Cursor: Supported.
Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Cursor: .cursorignore.
Amazon Q Developer: CLI. Cursor: Supported.
Amazon Q Developer: Free-form (Markdown). Cursor: Hybrid (MDC frontmatter + Markdown).
WHICH SHOULD I USE?
Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Amazon Q Developer, configure .amazonq/rules/*.md. If you use Cursor, configure .cursorrules. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.
PORTABILITY TIP
# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md