IDE Integrations

Most modern IDEs ship with AI coding assistants that support custom instructions or system prompts. Configuring these with a security prompt means chat suggestions, agent edits, and refactoring proposals follow secure coding practices.

Each setup below starts with the prompt for your technology, for example prompts/python/django/5.2/prompt.md. Re-copy it after each release; see Prompt Delivery.

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot supports repository custom instructions that apply in VS Code, JetBrains, Xcode, and other supported editors.

Repository-Level Instructions

Create a .github/copilot-instructions.md file in your repository root:

mkdir -p .github
cp path/to/prompt-repo/prompts/python/django/5.2/prompt.md .github/copilot-instructions.md

Copilot adds this file to Copilot Chat, Copilot cloud agent, and Copilot code review requests in the repository.

Organization-Level Instructions

Organizations on Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise can set organization-wide custom instructions:

1. Go to your organization's Settings → Copilot → Custom instructions
2. Paste the security prompt into the instructions field

Organization instructions apply to Copilot on GitHub.com and to Copilot code review. They don't apply in local editor sessions, so use repository instructions for IDE work.

Tips

• When both exist, Copilot uses repository and organization instructions together; repository instructions take priority on conflicts
• You can reference other files from the instructions to provide additional context

Cursor

Cursor supports multiple layers of custom instructions for its AI features (Chat and Agent).

Project Rules (Recommended)

Create a .cursor/rules/ directory and add a rule file:

.cursor/rules/security.mdc

---
description: Enforce secure coding practices in all generated code
alwaysApply: true
---

[Paste the full Manicode security prompt here]

Project rule files must use the .mdc extension. Cursor ignores plain .md files in this folder.

Technology-Scoped Rules

You can create multiple rule files scoped to specific file types:

.cursor/rules/django-security.mdc     (globs: *.py)
.cursor/rules/express-security.mdc    (globs: *.js,*.ts)
.cursor/rules/spring-boot-security.mdc (globs: *.java)

This lets you apply the right technology prompt to the right files.

Global Rules

For rules that apply across all projects:

1. Open Cursor Customize → Rules → User Rules
2. Paste the security prompt into the field

Tips

• Project rules with alwaysApply: true are included in every chat and agent session
• Rules are additive — project rules layer on top of user rules

Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf)

Devin Desktop, formerly Windsurf, supports project-level rules in a .devin/rules/ directory.

Setup

mkdir -p .devin/rules
cat > .devin/rules/security.md << 'EOF'
---
trigger: always_on
---

[Paste the full Manicode security prompt here]
EOF

Rules with trigger: always_on apply to every session in the project.

Global Rules

For cross-project defaults, add rule files to ~/.devin/rules/.

Tips

• Devin Desktop still imports older .windsurf/rules/ and .windsurfrules files, so existing setups keep working

JetBrains AI Assistant

JetBrains AI Assistant is available across IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and other JetBrains IDEs.

Setup

1. Open Settings → Tools → AI Assistant → Rules
2. Click New Project Rules File and give it a name. This creates a Markdown file in .aiassistant/rules/
3. Paste the security prompt into the file and set the rule type to Always

Rules set to Always apply to every AI Assistant chat session.

Junie

Junie, the JetBrains coding agent, reads project guidelines from AGENTS.md in the project root (or .junie/AGENTS.md):

cp path/to/prompt-repo/prompts/python/django/5.2/prompt.md AGENTS.md

VS Code with Continue.dev

Continue.dev is an open-source AI coding assistant that runs in VS Code and JetBrains.

Setup

Create a .continue/rules/ folder in your project root and add a rule file:

mkdir -p .continue/rules
cat > .continue/rules/security.md << 'EOF'
---
name: Security
alwaysApply: true
---

[Paste the full Manicode security prompt here]
EOF

Tips

• Continue supports multiple model backends (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, etc.) — the rules apply regardless of model
• Rules are added to the system message for Agent, Chat, and Edit requests
• Files in .continue/rules/ load in alphabetical order; prefix names with numbers to control order

Cline

Cline is an autonomous coding agent that runs inside VS Code.

Setup

Create a .clinerules/ folder in your project root and add a rule file:

mkdir -p .clinerules
cp path/to/prompt-repo/prompts/python/django/5.2/prompt.md .clinerules/security.md

Rule files without frontmatter are always active.

Tips

• Cline also reads AGENTS.md from the project root
• Workspace rules take priority over global rules when they conflict

Kiro and Amazon Q Developer

Kiro is the successor to the Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins, which AWS stops supporting on April 30, 2027. Kiro reads project guidance from steering files in .kiro/steering/.

Setup

mkdir -p .kiro/steering
cat > .kiro/steering/security.md << 'EOF'
---
inclusion: always
---

[Paste the full Manicode security prompt here]
EOF

If you still use the Amazon Q Developer IDE plugin, put the prompt in .amazonq/rules/security.md instead. Q Developer reads every Markdown file in .amazonq/rules/ as context for chat.

Tips

• Steering files apply in both the Kiro IDE and Kiro CLI

Quick Reference

IDE / Tool	Configuration File	Scope
GitHub Copilot	.github/copilot-instructions.md	Repository
Cursor	.cursor/rules/*.mdc	Project (glob-scoped)
Devin Desktop	.devin/rules/*.md	Project
JetBrains AI Assistant	.aiassistant/rules/*.md	Project
Junie	AGENTS.md	Project
Continue.dev	.continue/rules/*.md	Project
Cline	.clinerules/*.md	Project
Kiro	.kiro/steering/*.md	Project
Claude Code	CLAUDE.md	Project (see Claude Code)
Codex	AGENTS.md	Project (see AI Coding Agents)

Team Deployment Strategy

For teams using multiple IDEs, commit all relevant config files to the repository:

.github/copilot-instructions.md    # Copilot users (VS Code, JetBrains, Xcode)
.cursor/rules/security.mdc         # Cursor users
.devin/rules/security.md           # Devin Desktop users
.aiassistant/rules/security.md     # JetBrains AI Assistant users
.continue/rules/security.md        # Continue users
.clinerules/security.md            # Cline users
.kiro/steering/security.md         # Kiro users
CLAUDE.md                          # Claude Code users
AGENTS.md                          # Codex, Junie, and other AGENTS.md readers

Each file can contain the same security prompt. When a prompt update arrives, re-copy it into every file together to keep the team in sync.