Claude & Cursor Collaboration

Blend Anthropic Claude and Cursor to accelerate delivery while maintaining Spec Kitty's guardrails.

Objective

  • Claude specializes in discovery, planning, and narrative-heavy tasks.
  • Cursor executes implementation prompts with tight IDE integration.
  • Both agents operate inside .worktrees/<feature> and respect the kanban workflow.

Collaboration Pattern

0. Project Setup (One-time in main repo)

cd my-project
claude

/spec-kitty.charter

Create principles focused on code quality, testing standards,
and consistent documentation across all features.

1. Discovery & Spec (Claude)

Claude runs /spec-kitty.specify and writes the spec. Cursor remains idle.

/spec-kitty.specify

Build a user authentication system with email/password login,
password reset, and session management.

Result: Creates .worktrees/001-auth-system/ and feature branch

2. Switch to Feature Worktree (Claude)

cd .worktrees/001-auth-system
claude  # Restart Claude in the feature worktree

3. Planning (Claude)

Claude executes /spec-kitty.plan and updates plan.md.

/spec-kitty.plan

Use Python FastAPI for backend, PostgreSQL for database,
JWT tokens for sessions, bcrypt for password hashing.

4. Task Generation (Claude)

/spec-kitty.tasks

Result: Creates work packages in tasks/planned/ - Claude reviews each for ambiguity

5. Parallel Execution (Both Agents)

  • Claude handles research prompts (/spec-kitty.research) or explanatory work packages
  • Cursor moves implementation prompts to doing via: 
    spec-kitty agent action implement WP01
    Then codes inside its IDE and commits changes

6. Mutual Review (Both Agents)

  • Claude runs /spec-kitty.review on Cursor's completed work in for_review/
  • Cursor validates Claude's narrative outputs for technical consistency

7. Acceptance & Merge (Either Agent)

/spec-kitty.accept
/spec-kitty.merge --push

Coordination Tips

  • Keep a shared log in kitty-specs/<feature>/collaboration-notes.md
  • Use git worktree status (git worktree list) to confirm both agents operate in the same branch
  • When switching ownership, use spec-kitty agent action implement WP## to update lane and shell PID metadata
  • Monitor the dashboard to see which agent is working on which task in real-time

Agent Strengths

  • Claude: Specification writing, planning, research, documentation, complex problem-solving
  • Cursor: Code implementation, refactoring, debugging, IDE-integrated workflows
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