Cursor CLI Guide

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Editorial snapshot from September 2026. Prices, models and interface labels may change; this is a practical guide, not a live product feed.

Cursor’s agent in the terminal, with interactive work and scripted execution.

Coding agent · Cursor · macOS · Windows · Linux

Suitable workflows

Cursor users who also work over SSH, in terminal editors or in automation.

Limitations and billing

The CLI is a separate working surface from the editor; account limits still apply.

Capabilities we verified

Agent workflow · CLI surface

This is an evidence-based shortlist, not an exhaustive feature inventory. Omitted capabilities have not been checked for this record.

Pricing & usage

See official pricing

Cursor subscription and usage allowance. The cost of metered usage or an external agent can be separate from the subscription.

Models & access

Model access follows your Cursor account and the CLI’s current model selector.

Install and start the CLI

Use the shell installer on macOS/Linux/WSL, or the documented PowerShell installer on Windows.

curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash

Open your project folder in a terminal, then run:

agent

Account and authentication

Start agent and complete Cursor account authentication.

Project configuration and tools

Choose Agent, Plan or Ask mode for the task; inspect approvals before enabling unattended changes.

First task to try

Use a planning conversation to outline a change before applying it to the repository.

All AI CLI tools →

Cursor — AI code editor with agents, project rules and MCP.

GitHub Copilot CLI — GitHub’s terminal coding agent with repository context and Copilot account access.

Codex — OpenAI’s coding agent for local projects and cloud tasks.

Project evaluation checklist

Open a small, familiar project and confirm that your essential language tooling works.
Give the agent one bounded change with an observable acceptance criterion.
Review the diff, run the project’s checks and compare the result with your current workflow.
Inspect usage after the task. Estimate a month of similar work, including any separate model or agent bill.

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CodexBar

Developer Workflow Tools

CodexBar is a free, open-source usage monitor for AI coding tools that puts quota windows, reset times, balances, spend, and provider status into a macOS menu bar, Linux desktop app, and CLI. It is designed for developers juggling multiple coding-agent subscriptions rather than for writing code itself.

Floot MCP

AI App Builders / Prompt-to-App Tools

Floot MCP turns Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, and other MCP clients into full-stack app builders connected to Floot's managed runtime. The assistant supplies the model and reasoning while Floot handles projects, backend services, previews, and publishing.

bb

AI IDEs / AI Code Editors

bb is an open-source, local-first agentic IDE built around orchestrating coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Pi, OpenCode, Grok Build, and Hermes Agent. Its main differentiator is that the workbench itself is programmable: agents can create plugins, commands, skills, panels, and automations for bb.

Oh My Pi

Terminal / CLI Coding Agents

Oh My Pi (omp) is an open-source, terminal-first coding agent built from Pi and expanded into a batteries-included engineering harness with LSP, debugging, subagents, browser automation, model routing, and deep extensibility.

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