.cursorindexingignore
.cursorindexingignore excludes files from Cursor’s background indexing while still letting you reference them manually.
This week: 0% of 499 scanned repos had .cursorindexingignore.See Radar #4 →
What it is
.cursorindexingignore is a gitignore-style file that controls Cursor’s codebase indexing. Files it matches are not embedded for semantic search, but remain accessible if you add them explicitly.
Why use it
Use it for large, generated, or noisy files you want to keep out of search results without fully blocking the assistant. For secrets, prefer .cursorignore, which blocks access entirely.
How to set it up
Create .cursorindexingignore in your project root and list patterns to skip during indexing, one per line.
dist/
build/
*.min.js
vendor/What to exclude
Common sensitive categories worth adding to .cursorindexingignore:
FAQ
- Should I use this for secrets?
- No. Indexing-ignore still allows manual access. For secrets use .cursorignore so the files are blocked from all AI features.
Check your own project
158 of 499 repos this week exposed sensitive paths to AI tools. Check yours in seconds:
Run the same local check with Offsend CLI:
brew install --cask offsend/tap/offsend-cli
offsend show
offsend prepare --dry-runEverything runs locally. No file contents are uploaded.