Add Reference First rule to Build Tools and Development

[southyang99]

Summary

Contribution Type

• New Cursor rule file or rules folder
• Update/fix to an existing rule
• New rules/*.mdc rule
• Documentation or README cleanup

Value To Cursor Users

Added Or Changed Files

Quality Checklist

• The contribution includes original rule content, or clearly credits the source.
• New rule files use a descriptive kebab-case filename, such as react-typescript.mdc.
• New rules/*.mdc files include frontmatter with a non-empty description, relevant globs, and alwaysApply: false unless the rule is universal.
• README links use canonical GitHub URLs for repo files and point to the correct category.
• The text is neutral and useful, not sales copy.
• This is not a standalone external tool, product, directory, marketplace, or service listing.
• No secrets, tokens, affiliate links, tracking links, or unrelated product claims are included.
• I checked for duplicate or near-duplicate existing entries.

Notes For Maintainers

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added a new Reference First guidance rule for scouting relevant references before proposing solutions or writing code.
  • Documented when the rule applies, required brief format, search limits, verification steps, and summary expectations.
  • Updated the Rules documentation to include the new guidance.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a new optional Cursor rule requiring reference scouting before implementation in applicable scenarios, and registers it in the README rules list.

Changes

Reference First rule

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Rule definition rules/reference-first.mdc	Defines optional rule metadata, reference-scouting triggers, the required brief format, and search and verification constraints.
README registration README.md	Adds the Reference First rule to the Build Tools and Development list.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~3 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules#183: Also registers a new Cursor rule in README.md and adds guidance under rules/.

Suggested reviewers: patrickjs

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The template headings are present, but most required sections are left blank and need project-specific details.	Fill in Summary, Value To Cursor Users, Added or Changed Files, and Notes For Maintainers, and complete the relevant checklist items.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly matches the change: adding the Reference First rule under Build Tools and Development.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@rules/reference-first.mdc`:
- Around line 8-14: Clarify the trigger policy in the reference-scouting rule:
run automatically only when a listed “When to trigger” condition matches, ask
whether to run it when applicability is ambiguous, and always honor an explicit
user request to skip references. Update the introductory “Force the step to
happen” wording and the corresponding guidance in the later section so these
precedence rules are consistent.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: de91e816-2421-4a62-9799-0f8d40f0e62d

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b044f95 and e49857f.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• README.md
• rules/reference-first.mdc

[coderabbitai]

🎯 Functional Correctness | 🟠 Major | ⚡ Quick win

Clarify the rule’s trigger precedence.

“Force the step to happen” conflicts with “do not trigger by default” and “the user can say skip references.” State one policy explicitly: trigger automatically only when the listed conditions match, ask when applicability is ambiguous, and always honor an explicit skip.

Also applies to: 23-25

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@rules/reference-first.mdc` around lines 8 - 14, Clarify the trigger policy in
the reference-scouting rule: run automatically only when a listed “When to
trigger” condition matches, ask whether to run it when applicability is
ambiguous, and always honor an explicit user request to skip references. Update
the introductory “Force the step to happen” wording and the corresponding
guidance in the later section so these precedence rules are consistent.