Cursor Terminal Always Defaults to PowerShell Instead of Git Bash

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Cursor’s integrated terminal consistently launches PowerShell, even though Git Bash is set as the default terminal profile in settings. This happens when opening new terminals or restarting the app.

On occasion, when instructing the AI agent to “use bash” or run a command in Bash, Cursor doesn’t switch to a Bash shell — instead, it executes commands through PowerShell by prefixing them with bash -c "<command>".

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open Cursor.
  2. Go to Settings → Features → Terminal.
  3. Set Default Terminal Profile to Git Bash.
  4. Open a new terminal tab or restart Cursor.
  5. Optionally, ask the agent to run a shell command using Bash (e.g., “use bash to run ls”).

Expected Behavior

  • New terminal sessions should launch in Git Bash automatically.
  • When told to use Bash, the agent should open or use a proper Bash shell session (not wrap commands with bash -c).

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.7.44 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 9d178a4■■■89981b62546448bb32920a8219a5d0
Date: 2025-10-10T15:43:37.500Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

Additional Information

  • The issue persists after restarting Cursor and the system.
  • VS Code correctly respects the Git Bash default setting, suggesting this is Cursor-specific.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

2

I am experiencing this same bug. No matter what, I cannot get the AI agent to use Git Bash. I have also attempted to add this to my settings.json, but it has no affect on the AI Agent.

    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Git Bash",
    "terminal.integrated.automationProfile.windows": {
        "Git Bash": "Git Bash",
        "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe"
    },
    "terminal.integrated.profiles.windows": {
        "Git Bash": { "source": "Git Bash", "icon": "terminal-bash" }
    },
3

Hey, try this solution:

2 Likes
4

I also have this issue and an open issue with support that has been escalated. This indeed does appear to be a bug. Enabling legacy terminal also works for me. This is a workaround though and not a solution.

1 Like
5

terminal.external.windowsExec - point it to windows terminal

6

I’ve been dealing with this problem for a while, and out of all the possible solutions, this one was by far the simplest and most effective. Worked 100%! Thanks!

2 Likes