Reference folders as context in Chat & Composer for enhanced AI conversations
When referencing folders in Cursor using @Folders, there are two different behaviors depending on your settings.
Mode 1 - Folder Referencing
By default, if you @ a folder, the AI is given the path to the folder, so it knows where to look.
Additionally, Cursor provides the AI with an overview of the folder’s contents, to help provide it with the right context needed to appropriately decide it’s next action.
Mode 2 - Full Folder Content
Added in v0.50, you can now enable ‘Full Folder Content’.
With this enabled, when you @ a folder, Cursor will attempt to include the full contents of the folder in the context, meaning the AI does not have to the read the files itself.
How to Enable
To enable this feature, toggle the Full Folder Content option within the Cursor settings.
How to Use
When referencing folders in Cursor using @Folders with Full Folder Content enabled, all files from the selected folder will be included in the context if possible. This provides more comprehensive context compared to the default behavior, where only the folder path and overview are provided.
For larger folders that exceed the context window size, Cursor will:
- Show an outline view in the context menu
- Display a tooltip indicating how many files were included
- Intelligently manage the available context space
This system allows Cursor to efficiently work with folders of any size while maintaining awareness of what context is available to the AI. Whether you’re using the default folder referencing or have enabled the full folder content feature (available since v0.50), Cursor ensures you have the appropriate level of context for your needs.
Limitations
Pricing / Context Window
The full folder content feature is available to all users.
If you have Max mode enabled, this feature can greatly increase the cost of the request, as Cursor will attempt to include the full contents of the folder, using the full context window of the model you are using.
This is because the more files that are added to the prompt, the more input tokens these files will consume, causing the cost of the request to increase.
Ignore Files
When files are ignored via .cursorignore or .gitignore files, they will not be included in the context.