anti overengineering
via PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules
Keep changes scoped and simple—modify only what was asked, nothing more.
What is anti overengineering?
This rule prevents AI from over-engineering solutions by enforcing scope discipline: change only what the user requested, prefer the simplest approach, and avoid unnecessary abstractions, dependencies, or rewrites. Use it to maintain focused, maintainable code changes.
- Restrict changes to only the requested code
- Enforce simplest-solution-first approach
- Prevent unnecessary abstractions and dependencies
- Avoid full-file rewrites for small changes
- Skip error handling for impossible scenarios
- Verify no unrequested files were modified before delivery
Applies to
File patterns this rule matches.
Rule definition (reference)
Source of truth, from the repository.
Anti-Over-Engineering
Only change what was asked. Simplest solution first. When unsure, ask.
Do not modify unrequested code, add abstractions without a concrete need, import unnecessary dependencies, rewrite entire files for small changes, or add error handling for impossible scenarios.
Before delivery: verify you only changed requested code, check for simpler approaches, confirm no unrequested files were touched.
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