Description:
The Cursor AI agent’s terminal cannot ping or SSH to wired devices on my local network, while my regular macOS terminal running the exact same commands on the same Mac succeeds.
Steps to Reproduce:
Have a Mac connected via WiFi to a router (192.168.0.1)
Have wired devices on the same subnet (e.g., Raspberry Pis at 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.253)
Ask the agent to run: ping -c 2 192.168.0.253
Agent terminal returns: “No route to host”
Run the same command in a regular macOS terminal: succeeds with ping responses
Expected Behavior:
Agent terminal should have the same network access as user’s terminal on the same machine.
Actual Behavior:
Agent terminal cannot reach wired LAN devices. Returns “No route to host” for ICMP and TCP (SSH).
What Works in Agent Terminal:
Pinging the router (192.168.0.1)
Pinging internet hosts
Connecting via Tailscale overlay network (100.x.x.x addresses)
What Fails in Agent Terminal:
Pinging wired devices on local LAN
SSH to wired devices on local LAN
Environment:
OS: macOS 25.0.0 (darwin)
Cursor version: latest as of Dec 19, 2025
Network: 192.168.0.0/24, Mac on WiFi (5GHz), target devices on ethernet
Workaround:
Used Tailscale as a jump host to reach local wired devices, or ran commands manually in user terminal and pasted results back to agent.
Notes:
This suggests the agent terminal runs in a sandbox with restricted local network access. The sandbox appears to allow internet and router traffic but blocks or fails to route traffic to other devices on the local LAN segment.
Steps to Reproduce
Have a Mac connected via WiFi to a router (192.168.0.1)
Have wired devices on the same subnet (e.g., Raspberry Pis at 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.253)
Ask the agent to run: ping -c 2 192.168.0.253
Agent terminal returns: “No route to host”
Run the same command in a regular macOS terminal: succeeds with ping responses
Expected Behavior
it would work
Operating System
MacOS
Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)
That was the fix! (system settings) Sheesh, i thought i had tried everything. Cursor/Opus also attempted to diagnose the problem and tried many many things unsuccessfully. Thanks!
I’m having exactly the same problem, however for me, Cursor isn’t listed in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network. It also doesn’t ask for permissions. I tried uninstalling it from Apps and Re-installing, to no success either.
Any idea how to get the permission added as its not possible to do that manually?
Enable the Legacy Terminal: Cursor Settings > Agents > Inline Edits & Terminal > check “Use legacy terminal for agent”.
Check if Cursor shows up under a different name in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network. Sometimes macOS lists it as another app (similar case: Connecting to local network in MacOS Sequoia).
Try running a ping from Cursor’s built-in terminal (Ctrl+`, not the agent terminal), for example: ping 192.168.0.1. This should trigger the system permission prompt.
If it still doesn’t work, try a full reinstall of Cursor (make a backup first):
thanks for the fast feedback! I’ve tried the suggestions in order and found 2 to work for me.
Just for testing I enabled all Apps listed there (none of them was Cursor), and suddenly communication started to work. By method of elimination I found toggling the app called Bruno (which is an OS alternative to Postman) also toggled Cursor… that’s super weird.
Anyway, requested information:
macOS version: Tahoe 26.1
Cursor version: 2.2.44
Let me know I there’s any additional information that could help you narrow down the root cause if desired, happy to support.
Great that you were able to find a solution! This is really strange macOS behavior - when Cursor doesn’t show up separately in the Local Network list, but the permission is controlled through another app (in your case, Bruno).
Thanks for the details on the versions and the fix. This is very useful information that could help other users with similar issues.