`run_terminal_cmd` prepends "qс" prefix to all commands in PowerShell on Windows

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Issue:
The run_terminal_cmd tool is prepending a “qс” prefix (appears to be Cyrillic characters) to every command executed through it, causing all commands to fail with CommandNotFoundException.

Actual Behavior:
Commands are executed with “qс” prefix: qсgit status, qсecho "test", qсpwd

All commands fail with error: The term 'qсgit' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. CommandNotFoundException

Affected Commands

  • :white_check_mark: First git status command worked correctly (inconsistent behavior)
  • :cross_mark: All subsequent commands fail: git diff, git log, git --version, echo "test", pwd, ls, dir

Character Analysis

The “qс” prefix appears to contain Cyrillic characters (possibly Unicode U+044F “я” + U+0441 “с” or similar) rather than Latin characters, suggesting an encoding or text processing issue in the command transmission layer.

Impact

  • AI assistant cannot execute any terminal commands through run_terminal_cmd
  • Workflow completely blocked when terminal automation is needed
  • Manual command execution in terminal is the only workaround
  • Affects custom rules that rely on automated command execution (e.g., conventional-commits.mdc)

Workaround

Manually copy and execute commands directly in PowerShell terminal outside of Cursor’s run_terminal_cmd tool.

Steps to Reproduce

Reproduction Steps

  1. Open Cursor on Windows with PowerShell as default shell
  2. Use AI assistant to execute any command via run_terminal_cmd tool
  3. Observe that all commands receive “qс” prefix

Expected Behavior

Commands should execute as provided without any prefix. For example: git status, echo "test", pwd

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.0.38 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 3fa438a81d579067162dd8767025b788454e6f90
Date: 2025-10-29T20:45:40.883Z
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 10.0.26200

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Sonet 4.5

Additional Information

This issue was discovered while implementing a custom rule for conventional commits that required executing: git diff $(git merge-base HEAD main) HEAD. The command consistently fails with the “qс” prefix prepended.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

2

Hey, thanks for the report. The Cyrillic prefix injection is unusual. I haven’t seen this exact issue before, though there have been several terminal command execution bugs in the 2.0.x series.

Please try this workaround:

  • Open Cursor Settings Ctrl+Shift+J → Agents → Inline Editing & Terminal
  • Enable “Legacy Terminal Tool”
  • Press Ctrl+Shift+P → “Terminal: Kill All Terminals”
  • Fully restart Cursor

This has helped others with similar terminal execution issues on recent versions.

It’s also helpful if you can share:

  • Console errors: Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console tab (when it happens)
  • Any custom PowerShell profile config?
  • Does it happen with other shells (Git Bash, CMD)?

The Cyrillic injection suggests a character encoding or text processing bug in the terminal wrapper. I’ll flag this to the engineering team.

Let me know if the Legacy Terminal Tool helps!

3

Legacy Terminal Tool - was helpfull only the first time after Cursor restart. But then again all the Agent attempts to run something prepends by qc
The same I observe for Powershell and CMD

4

same issue! any commands after 2-3 giving same “qc” before command text…. asked AI to put “ ; “ with spaces. and it did it’s job xDD now i just everytime in new contexts ask to put “ ; “ before it’s command and everything is ok

5

same issue!

1 Like
6

Same issue. Trying to fix this via rule but not succeeded yet

7

Any estimates on when it will be fixed!? @deanrie

8

Thanks for the follow-up!

This “q”/“qc” prefix issue is already with the engineering team - it’s a known bug in the new terminal tool implementation on Windows.

I don’t have exact fix timelines. For now, stick with Legacy Terminal Tool - that’s the only workaround available.

Also note @QXPlays’ workaround - adding " ; " before the command might help as a temp fix.

I’ll update the thread once we have fix info.

1 Like
9

Have same issue

Any estimates on when it will be fixed!?

@deanrie

10

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