Agent Mode Terminal Ignores ZSH Profile Setting and Forces Bash

Bug Reports
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.