Dotfile existence is not aknowledged

[klntsky (Vladimir Kalnitsky)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

The agent is not aware of dotfile existence, even though it is supposed to know about it.

Steps to Reproduce

create a .env.example and ask the agent to do something with it

Expected Behavior

the agent can at the very least see that the file exists

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Linux

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.2.44
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 20adc1003928b0f1b99305dbaf845656ff81f5d0
Date: 2025-12-24T21:41:47.598Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.5.0-44-generic

For AI issues: which model did you use?

GPT-5.2

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

3e8b4f4c-b260-4163-a9d6-ca6963a7e81a

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[Colin]

Hey @klntsky!

Is it possible that you’re ignoring .env files via a .cursorignore file? The default global ignore also includes **/.env.*, which would also match .env.example. See the docs on ignore files.

If you want the agent to see .env.example specifically (while still ignoring actual .env files with secrets), you could update your global settings to be more specific:

.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

Or use a negation pattern to re-include example files:

.env*
!.env.example
.env*!.env.example

[klntsky (Vladimir Kalnitsky)]

My point is that is is not necessary to make the agent not aware of the file existence. It could be useful for it to be able to at least diagnose the “no .env file” problems, and it can be done without letting it actually read it

[Colin]

I see what you’re saying. It’s a valid point. I’ll mention it to the team!