Sync Cursor Settings the Dotfiles Way

#cursor #git

If you migrated from VS Code to Cursor, you might have noticed that Cursor doesn't support settings sync.

https://forum.cursor.com/t/sync-of-keybindings-and-settings/31

In this post, I'd like to share how to sync your Cursor settings & extensions the traditional way, similar to how you sync .zshrc and .vimrc files.

You put the settings file in a git repo.

Settings

Syncing your settings is simpler than syncing extensions, so let's start there.

What you need to do is:

Save the settings.json file in a git repo.
Clone the repo on your machine.
Create a symlink to that settings.json file.

Git Repo Structure

Your repo should be structured like this if you're on Linux.

repo
└── cursor
    └── .config
        └── Cursor
            └── User
                └── settings.json

And like this if you're on Mac.

repo
└── cursor
    └── Library
        └── Application Support
            └── Cursor
                └── User
                    └── settings.json

Stow

You can use stow to create settings.json symlink in your home directory.
https://www.gnu.org/software/stow/

Install stow, and run this command from your repo root.

stow --no-folding -t ~ *

Technically, --no-folding flag is optional, but I recommend you use it.

Once you run this command, your Cursor settings file is symlinked to the git repo. You can commit changes and push/pull.

Extensions

Syncing Cursor extensions is a little more complicated than syncing settings. Unlike settings.json, Cursor extensions are not saved as a text file. The extensions are saved as packages under ~/.cursor/extensions/.

What we have access to:

cursor --list-extensions command prints out the extension IDs that are currently installed.
cursor --install-extension <extension-id> command can install the extension.
cursor --uninstall-extension <extension-id> can do the opposite. Note: there's a bug that prevents you from uninstalling multiple extensions in one command.

From these ingredients, we can whip up a script that syncs extensions across machines.

Compare the mtime (last modified time) of the ~/.cursor/extensions/extensions.json file and the list file (more on the list file later).
- (case 1) If the extensions.json file is newer, we generate a new list file. Dump the output of cursor --list-extensions command to [repo]/.cursor/extensions/list.txt.
- (case 2) If the extensions.json file is older, then it means the extensions are outdated.
  - Get which extensions are currently installed by running cursor --list-extensions.
  - Install extensions that are not currently installed but exist in the list file.
  - Uninstall extensions that are currently installed but do not exist in the list file.