Is there a way to configure Cursor so that it can access or interact with the terminal directly?

Is there a way to configure Cursor so that it can access or interact with the terminal directly? This would be particularly useful when running code and encountering errors that are displayed in the terminal.

For context, I asked Cursor to show me the last line in my terminal, and the response was:

Q: What is the last line in my terminal? Show me the exact last line.

A: “I apologize, but I don’t have access to your terminal or any information about its current state. As an AI language model, I can only respond based on the information you provide. If you want me to comment on or help with something specific in your terminal, you’ll need to share that information with me directly. Could you please copy and paste the last line from your terminal so I can assist you better?”

Any tips or solutions would be appreciated!

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Hi @Sam-Forum ,

Does this assist?

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This is a step forward and definitely helpful.

Just to clarify, there’s no way to simply type “What is the error in my terminal?” directly into the chat box, right?

Hi @Sam-Forum ,

Not that I am aware of.

But perhaps the following achieves the same result (and might actually require less work)?

Essentially, just click and drag some text in the error in the terminal, and then you can click a button to add it to your existing chat.

(Feel free to post back if that is still not the behaviour you are looking for).

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This is fantastic :clap: :grinning:—I tried it, and it works perfectly.

Your screenshot and explanation were spot on and extremely helpful.

I have a follow-up question: When I copy and paste part of the code from the editor into the chat box, it initially stays open, but once I hit enter, it automatically collapses.

Is there a way to keep it open? It would be helpful when reviewing chat history to have a clearer understanding if the code snippets remained visible.

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Hi @Sam-Forum ,

I’m glad that was the functionality you were after :+1:.

In regard to being able to see the code that has previously been added as context, I believe there have been a few iterations on how this is displayed, currently you can click on the referenced code context, and it will toggle display of that code.

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Awesome, thanks so much for your responses—I really appreciate them :blush:.

Do you know of any good tutorials (preferably videos :movie_camera:, but text documents :page_facing_up: work too) that teach the features and how-tos of the Cursor IDE?

Basically a step-by-step guide.

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Hi @Sam-Forum ,

I personally haven’t been following the video tutorials that have been created on YouTube recently, but I know a lot have been added.

The Cursor Docs have recently been added to GitHub so I imagine their content will grow in the coming weeks:

https://docs.cursor.com

https://github.com/getcursor/docs

You can also view the features page here:

https://www.cursor.com/features

Here is a post that provides some introductory information:

In terms of the scope of functionality available in Cursor, there are three main features:

  • Ctrl + K for in-file code generation (docs)

  • Ctrl + L to open up an AI chat panel in the sidebar (docs)

  • Ctrl + I (Composer) to create and edit code across multiple files

So you could test all of that functionality by taking the following steps:

  1. Create a folder in your Documents folder called myGreatProject

  2. Open that folder in Cursor

Ctrl + I:

  1. Press Ctrl + I to open up Composer and give it a prompt like:

Please create a simple HTML site with an index.html file and CSS and JS folders that contains fun JavaScript functionality and a bold blue color scheme that documents the adventures and victories of a super hero named Sam traversing the mountainous terrain of Chile!

  1. Press the Apply All and then Accept All buttons to accept the code

Note that there are some bugs with Composer at the moment, so YMMV.

Ctrl + K:

  1. Open the generated JavaScript file, highlight some code, press Ctrl + K and either ask it something about the code or ask it to change the code in some way

Ctrl + L:

  1. Press Ctrl + L to display the AI Chat in the sidebar and have larger conversations - choose your desired model and use the @ Symbols feature to add different types of context to your chat, from individual files to the whole codebase

Other frequently used places within Cursor are:

  • Cursor Settings (Ctrl + Shift + J)
  • System Information (Help > About)

Hopefully these tips will assist you in getting started!

A few other tips in regards to requests:

  • Remember that the gpt-4o-mini model is considered a ‘non-premium’ model, so use that for small tasks to save your ‘fast-premium’ requests:
  • Pro users get an additional 10 ‘long-chat’ model requests per day, as defined when logged in at https://www.cursor.com/settings , so take advantage of them

Screenshots

The screenshots below are of the various actions that were mentioned above.

Screenshot 01 - Composer

Screenshot 02 - Composer Response

Screenshot 03 - Generated Site

Screenshot 04 - Composer Iteration

Screenshot 05 - New Generated Site

Screenshot 06 - Ctrl + K

Screenshot 07 - Ctrl + L

Screenshot 08 - Cursor Settings

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@Sam-Forum

Re: your question about videos about Cursor…

Here’s a good introductory video:

It covers all the main features, gets straight to the point, has some good demos and doesn’t waste any time :+1:t5:.

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Thank you for sharing this information—it’s been incredibly helpful. :clap: :clap: :clap: :grinning:

I have a few follow-up questions:

  1. Which app are you using to create those screenshots with arrows and numbers?
  2. Are you working with or part of the Cursor team?
  3. Is it possible to make the fonts in that part of image larger? They seem a bit too small.

Hi @Sam-Forum ,

You can use a product like TechSmith’s Snagit to make screenshots like that.

I am an enthusiastic Cursor end-user and recently became a moderator on this forum.

To avoid this topic containing multiple topics, you should probably create new topics for your additional questions.

For reference, however, a few other users have created posts about font-size:

It does have access to the terminal, it just forgets it does And if you then tell it that it does, it remembers and then does it (Sometimes but not every time)