Agent Mode Terminal Ignores ZSH Profile Setting and Forces Bash

Bug Reports
1

Description:

When using Cursor’s Agent Mode terminal, the shell defaults to bash regardless of the selected terminal profile settings.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Clean install Cursor
  2. Set default terminal profile to “zsh” in Cursor’s terminal profile settings
  3. Use Agent Mode terminal

Current Behavior:

  • Terminal launches with bash using command:

/bin/bash --init-file /Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/contrib/terminal/common/scripts/shellIntegration-bash.sh

  • Environment shows inconsistent state:
  • Process runs as /bin/bash
  • $SHELL is set to /bin/zsh
  • Error messages show bash: “bash: command not found”

Expected Behavior:

  • Terminal should launch using zsh as specified in the profile settings
  • Should use appropriate zsh integration script
  • Environment variables and actual shell process should consistently reflect zsh

Environment:

  • OS: macOS 24.3.0
  • Shell: zsh set as default
  • Cursor: 0.47.8 (Universal)
  • Clean installation with no previous configuration files

Additional Notes:

  • The issue persists after a complete reinstall and clearing all configuration
  • The zsh integration script appears to be missing from the expected location in the Cursor application files

Workaround:

For each command running in agent mode, I can run it on zsh only if I tell the agent to prepend the command with a command to correct the shell activation.

Example:

  • to run pnpm test
  • the agent need to run /bin/zsh -il -c "pnpm test"

This workaround is not really acceptable. Please, let me know if there is something more permanent, so that I don’t have to prepend the shell activation to all commands.

Similar Bugs

There is a number of similar bugs with Terminal in Agent mode, but none is detailed enough to explain the problem comes from the Agent not using the correct terminal configuration.

I reported this bug in the GitHub repo:

2

Here is an image showing the bug

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3

Hey, that’s strange, I’ve never encountered this issue before. Could you please let me know if zsh is set as the default shell on your system? Is it possible that you have any rules indicating to use bash instead? What happens if you select a different model, like Claude 3.7 Sonnet? Also, could you show me the shell settings in Cursor?

4

Zsh is the default terminal in my system. I never used bash. There ia a .bashrc there, but just because of old backups restored files in the new computer.

Here you can see zsh is also the default in Cursor

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1 Like
5

This behavior happens in Agent Mode only: when the AI agent tries to execute a command.

Currently, I am searching for a workaround. E.g. a dot-notation property I can set to specify the shell command that I would run for the agent (e.g.: /bin/zsh -il -c )

I tried several properties, but none was working.
Any suggestion for a workaround would help me achieving a status where I can actually work.

1 Like
6

Cursor Terminal Shell Configuration Bug Investigation

Initial Environment Check

  • $SHELL shows /bin/zsh
  • Actual running process shows /bin/bash
  • Terminal is launched by “Cursor Helper: terminal pty-host”

Configuration Attempts

1. Workspace Settings (.vscode/settings.json)

{
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.osx": "zsh",
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.osx": {
        "zsh": {
            "path": "/bin/zsh",
            "args": ["-l"],
            "overrideName": true
        }
    }
}

2. Cursor Global Settings (~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/settings.json)

{
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.osx": "zsh",
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.osx": {
        "zsh": {
            "path": "/bin/zsh",
            "args": ["-l"],
            "overrideName": true
        }
    }
}

3. VS Code Global Settings (~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json)

  • Added the same terminal configuration
  • Noted existing setting "terminal.integrated.inheritEnv": false

Environment Variables Check

  • SHELL=/bin/zsh
  • RBENV_SHELL=zsh
  • TERM_PROGRAM=vscode
  • TERM=xterm-256color
  • Various Cursor/VS Code specific variables present

Process Hierarchy

  • Terminal process → Cursor Helper: terminal pty-host → Cursor.app

Results

  • After each configuration change and restart, the terminal still defaults to bash
  • Environment variables correctly indicate zsh
  • The issue persists regardless of configuration location (workspace, Cursor global, or VS Code global)

Current Workaround

  • Prepending commands with /bin/zsh -il -c to force zsh execution

This appears to be a bug in Cursor’s terminal implementation where it’s not properly respecting the shell configuration settings, despite the environment variables being correctly set for zsh.

7

Hey here’s a particular incantation of vscode configurations that seems to work for me. Apologies in advance if this doesn’t work for you. I hate VS Code…

in your settings.json, add:

    "terminal.integrated.shellIntegration.enabled": false,
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.osx": "zsh",
    "terminal.integrated.automationProfile.osx": {
        "path": "/bin/zsh"
    },
8

Thanks a lot!

I confirm this workaround is good enough to keep working with the Agent. I really appreciate your support.

TL;DR :

The fix can be applied to cursor settings, in my case in: cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/Cursor/User/settings.json

Below is a quick visual guide to implement the fix.

image
image1920×917 107 KB

9

I tried to add

terminal.integrated.automationProfile.osx

to bash but the agent is still using zsh.

I hope it’s not because i’m on Windows using remote ssh into a mac…

10

I had the same issue. For me I did two things.

From the terminal app run /bin/bash and check for any errors. I had an issue in my .bash_profile that needed resolving.
Running bash also showed a message with a link to apple support docs Use zsh as the default shell on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

So I also ran chsh -s /bin/zsh as the article sugested.
I removed any changes to cursor setting to return all terminal values back to defaults

And now the agent is working correctly