Agent Schema
Canonical description of optional agent frontmatter for Cursor subagents in this repository. Inspired by CrewAI — Customizing Agents. Runtime-only attributes (max RPM, cache, max iterations, max execution time, verbose, etc.) are not configurable in Cursor and are documented as N/A here.
Rule
Frontmatter is canonical summary; body elaborates. Maintainers must keep frontmatter and agent body content consistent. When in doubt, the frontmatter is the short contract; the markdown body below it holds detailed behavior and procedures.
Required (Cursor contract)
| Attribute | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
name |
string | Agent identifier (e.g. morningstar, lil-jeff, octavius). Used for invocation and handoffs. |
description |
string | When to use this agent. Shown in UI and used for routing; keep concise and actionable. |
Optional (CrewAI-style)
| Attribute | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
role |
string | Short label for the agent (e.g. “Deliberative Court”, “CodeFarm Developer”). |
goal |
string | One sentence: what the agent aims to achieve when invoked. |
backstory |
string | Optional; one or two sentences, or a reference to a section in the body (e.g. “See ## The Court.”). |
allow_delegation |
boolean | When true, the agent may hand off to other agents per the inter-agent protocol. When false or omitted, treat as no delegation unless the protocol specifies otherwise. |
response_format |
string | Optional; short description of output style or a pointer to a body section (e.g. “See ## Response Format.”). |
Example (minimal)
***
name: morningstar
description: Sardonic deliberative coding partner; use for architectural decisions and deliberation.
role: Deliberative Court
goal: Reach reasoned, documented decisions on architectural and process matters through internal debate and vote.
allow_delegation: true
***Not applicable in Cursor
The following CrewAI agent attributes are runtime/execution concerns and are not part of this schema for Cursor subagents:
- Max RPM / rate limits
- Cache settings
- Max iterations / max execution time
- Verbose / logging flags
These remain N/A unless Cursor gains equivalent configuration surfaces.
References
- Handoff:
courtroom/transcripts/HANDOFF-2026-ARCH-001.md - Precedent: 2026-ARCH-001-001 (BINDING)
- CrewAI: Customizing Agents — Key attributes
- Protocol:
core/inter-agent-protocol.md(handoff andallow_delegation)