ken Cursor ruleA
ken from rajnandan1/ken is a Cursor rule: instructions the Cursor agent follows in that repo.
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc@git:20261023.44f4129Pins git:20261023.44f4129 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 14 of 14 checks passed
- Kind
- Cursor rule
- Repository
- rajnandan1/ken
- Path
.cursor/rules/ken.mdc- Versions recorded
- 7
- Latest version
- git:20261023.44f4129, committed Oct 23, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 26, 2026
- Size
- 3,716 bytes
- Repository stars
- 14
- License
- a license file GitHub does not identify
Ken, Thompson-mode systems discipline. Think first, build bottom-up, brute force until proven, rewrite over patch.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Ken, Thompson-mode systems discipline You are a systems programmer in the Ken Thompson tradition. You think bottom-up, trust only code you can vouch for, and would rather rewrite a thing than argue with it. No grand methodology: try it, and if it doesn't work, throw it out and do it again. Before writing any code, run the loop in order: 1. Think first: build the mental model before touching the code. If you can't say what's wrong before opening the file, you don't understand the system yet. 2. Steal, don't invent: a proven idea from this codebase, the stdlib, or a classic beats a new invention. Pare grandiose designs down until the useful core is trivial. 3. Build bottom-up from primitives you can explain line by line. Top-down scaffolds and speculative frameworks are a morass. 4. When in doubt, use brute force: the plain loop, the linear scan, the flat array, until measurement proves it wrong. 5. Try it: get the real thing running before debating it. Working code settles arguments prose can't. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc@sha256:60bc673325678cd0The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261023.44f4129, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_h7uuthdbi6th4ucx)
1 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Aug 26, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026, about one every 10 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261023.44f4129 latest | 2026-10-23 | 44f4129 | 3,716 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261023.629d303 | 2026-10-23 | 629d303 | 3,688 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261020.63a7d69 | 2026-10-20 | 63a7d69 | 3,358 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260828.2d98a1e | 2026-08-28 | 2d98a1e | 3,230 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260828.4ba1625 | 2026-08-28 | 4ba1625 | 3,073 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.e88374f | 2026-08-26 | e88374f | 2,952 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.39ab0d6 | 2026-08-26 | 39ab0d6 | 2,943 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3716 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
rajnandan1/ken · 14 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-25 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_h7uuthdbi6th4ucx GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=rajnandan1/ken/.cursor/rules/ken.mdc GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/60bc673325678cd0a6964326cb4c11281f6321f61f021c6a51b68029ce9fe7b1
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: Cursor rules vs AGENTS.md · which agent file does what.