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Cursor Setup

This guide shows you how to set up Cursor to automatically log thoughts to AGIT.

Prerequisites​

Automatic Setup​

When you run agit init, a .cursorrules file is created automatically. This file tells Cursor how to log thoughts.

Restart Required

After running agit init or agit init --update, restart Cursor to load the updated AGIT configuration. The CLI will remind you:

Restart your AI assistant to activate AGIT memory.

How It Works​

  1. Cursor reads .cursorrules when opening your project
  2. While working, Cursor sees instructions to log thoughts
  3. The AI calls agit_log_step via MCP
  4. Thoughts are stored in .agit/index

Manual Configuration​

If you need to manually configure Cursor:

1. Create .cursorrules​

# AGIT Integration

When working on this project, log your thoughts using AGIT:

1. When the user describes what they want, call:
   agit_log_step(role="user", category="intent", content="<user's goal>")

2. When you decide on an approach, call:
   agit_log_step(role="ai", category="reasoning", content="<your plan>")

3. Log significant decisions during implementation.

This creates a reasoning trace that gets linked to commits.

2. Configure MCP (if needed)​

In Cursor settings, ensure the AGIT MCP server is configured:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "agit": {
        "command": "agit",
        "args": ["server"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Verifying It Works​

  1. Open your project in Cursor
  2. Ask Cursor to make a change
  3. Check the AGIT status:
agit status

You should see entries logged:

Staging area:
  2 entries pending

Recent entries:
  [10:42:15] user/intent: Add validation to login form
  [10:42:18] ai/reasoning: Will add Zod schema and error handling

Best Practices​

Be Specific in Requests​

The clearer your request, the better the logged intent:

❌ "Fix the bug"
✅ "Fix the authentication bug where users can't log in with special characters in passwords"

Let Cursor Explain​

Encourage Cursor to explain its approach:

"Before making changes, explain your approach"

This generates better reasoning traces.

Review Before Commit​

Check agit status before committing to ensure the logged thoughts make sense:

agit status
# Review entries
agit commit -m "Your message"

Troubleshooting​

Thoughts Not Being Logged​

  1. Check .cursorrules exists and is valid
  2. Verify AGIT is initialized: ls .agit
  3. Restart Cursor - this is required after init or update
  4. If you updated AGIT, run agit init --update then restart again
  5. Try starting the server manually: agit server

MCP Connection Issues​

  1. Restart Cursor
  2. Check MCP configuration in Cursor settings
  3. Enable debug logging: RUST_LOG=debug agit server

Next Steps​