Cursor cli in nodejs

[light.wsj]

Describe the Bug

cannot find output in nodejs

Steps to Reproduce

const child = spawn('cursor-agent', ['-p', '--api-key', 'xxx', '"hello"', '-m', 'claude-4-sonnet'], {
    shell: true
  });
  let output = '';
  child.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
    const str = data.toString();
    output += str;
    console.log('stdout: ', str);
  });
  child.stderr.on('data', (data) => {
    const str = data.toString();
    output += str;
    console.log('stderr: ', str);
  });
  child.on('close', (code) => {
    console.log('close: ', code);
  });

  child.on('error', (err) => {
    console.error('error:', err);
  });

there no any console output in cmd.
if i remove apiKey

const child = spawn('cursor-agent', ['-p', '"hello"', '-m', 'claude-4-sonnet'], {
    shell: true
  });

I will get the output

            +i":;;
        [?+<l,",::;;;I
      {[]_~iI"":::;;;;II
  )){↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗↗ll          …  Cursor Agent
  11{[#M##M##M#########*ppll
  11}[]-+############oppqqIl             Press any key to sign in...
  1}[]_+<il;,####bpqqqqwIIII
  []?_~<illi_++qqwwwwww;IIII
  ]?-+~>i~{??--wwwwwww;;;III
  -_+]>{{{}}[[[mmmmmm_<_:;;I
  r\\|||(()))))mmmm)1)111{?_
   t/\\\\\|||(|ZZZ||\\\/tf^
        ttttt/tZZfff^>
            ^^^O>>
              >>

Then i run this cmd in shell, it works

cursor-agent -p --api-key xxx -f "hello" -m claude-4-sonnet

i dont know how to use cursor cli in nodejs

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Mac: Apple M1 Pro
cursor-agent -v
2025.08.09-d8191f3
node -v
v20.18.1

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[sanjeed5]

Thanks for reporting this. The issue might be that your API key authentication isn’t working properly in Node.js, causing the CLI to fail silently.

Please try these steps:

• First, update to the latest CLI version: cursor-agent update (your version is older than current)

• Verify your API key works directly in terminal:

cursor-agent -p --api-key xxx "hello" -m claude-4-sonnet

• If that fails, generate a new API key from your Cursor dashboard under Integrations > User API Keys, then try again.

• In your Node.js code, try using the environment variable approach instead:

const child = spawn('cursor-agent', ['-p', 'hello', '-m', 'claude-4-sonnet'], {     shell: true,     env: { ...process.env, CURSOR_API_KEY: 'xxx' } });

Please let us know if this still happens after these steps.