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How to install Cursor and run your first task

Guide · checked against the docs on

Cursor is an AI code editor. Its docs say "The Cursor desktop app is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux." This guide covers installing it, signing in, turning on Privacy Mode and making a first small change. Everything here is quoted from Cursor's downloads page, quickstart, install help and privacy help, checked Oct 2026.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anysphere or Cursor. Check Cursor's current docs before relying on these details.

Our tool page: Cursor

What you need first

Cursor's help page says you need "A Cursor account. Sign up free at cursor.com if you don't have one." For paid plans, see Cursor's pricing page (checked Oct 2026).

System requirements, from the quickstart:

Requirement
macOS"macOS 12 (Monterey) and later", Apple Silicon and Intel
Windows"Windows 10 and later"
Linux"Debian/Ubuntu (recommended)" and "RHEL/Fedora"

The docs don't list memory or disk needs. The version was 3.24 when we checked (Oct 2026).

Step 1: Install

Download the app from cursor.com/download. The help page says:

Debian or Ubuntu, from the quickstart:

curl -fsSL https://downloads.cursor.com/keys/anysphere.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/cursor.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/cursor.gpg] https://downloads.cursor.com/aptrepo stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cursor.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cursor

RHEL or Fedora: the quickstart has you add a repo file at /etc/yum.repos.d/cursor.repo that points to https://downloads.cursor.com/yumrepo, with signature checks on, and then run sudo dnf install cursor. Copy the exact file from the quickstart.

AppImage: download the .AppImage file, then:

chmod +x Cursor-*.AppImage
./Cursor-*.AppImage

The quickstart says "The apt and yum packages are preferred over AppImage. They provide desktop icons, automatic updates, and CLI tools."

Step 2: Sign in and open a project

Open Cursor and "Sign in with your Cursor account when prompted." Then "Open a project folder with File > Open Folder to start coding."

Coming from VS Code? Cursor can bring over your extensions, themes, settings and keybindings. Open Cursor Settings (Ctrl+Shift+J, or Cmd+Shift+J on Mac), go to General, then Account, and under "VS Code Import" click Import. The docs note "Cursor often uses slightly older VS Code versions."

Step 3: Turn on Privacy Mode

Cursor says "Privacy Mode ensures your code is never used for training by Cursor or other AI model providers." The docs don't say whether it's on by default for individual accounts, so turn it on yourself. Open Cursor Settings (Ctrl+Shift+J, or Cmd+Shift+J on Mac), click General, and toggle Privacy Mode on.

Also know that "When you use AI features, Cursor sends prompts and code context to model providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google." For more, see our guide on whether AI coding tools train on your code.

Step 4: Your first task

Open Agent with Cmd+I (Mac) or Ctrl+I. Start by asking it to read, not change. Here is Cursor's example prompt (we haven't tried it ourselves):

Explain this codebase. Point me to the main entry points, key modules, and anything I should read before making changes.

Then ask for ideas before any edits. Cursor's example prompt (we haven't tried it ourselves):

Suggest three small, safe improvements in this codebase. Explain the tradeoffs and wait for me to choose one.

The quickstart says "Good first tasks are low risk, like improving some copywriting or fixing small UI issues." When the agent finishes, "review the diff and ask Cursor to run the checks your project already uses." For bigger jobs, "Press Shift+Tab in the agent input to toggle Plan Mode" so it plans first and waits for you.

Tip: use Git, and commit before you ask for changes. Then you can always undo what the AI did.

Updating and removing it

To update from inside Cursor, the help page says "press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P, type 'Cursor: Attempt Update', and restart when prompted." Cursor's docs don't include uninstall steps.

Optional: the Cursor CLI

Cursor also has a command-line tool for running agents in a terminal. On macOS, Linux or Windows (WSL):

curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash

On native Windows (PowerShell):

irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex

These commands download a script and run it right away. If you want to see what it does first, open the script's address in your browser and read it before you run the command. Check it worked with agent --version, then start it with agent. The docs say "Cursor CLI will try to auto-update by default," and you can update by hand with agent update.

Next steps

Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anysphere or Cursor. Check Cursor's current docs before relying on these details.