Coding agent (CLI) · Cursor

Cursor CLI

Cursor's terminal agent, launched with the agent command. Offers agent, plan and ask modes, print mode for scripts and CI, MCP, subagents, a sandbox toggle, and handoff of a conversation to Cursor's cloud agents.

Reviewed by the Termdex team · facts checked 2026-10-28 against 8 vendor sources · how we check

Official site

Cursor CLI review

Cursor CLI is Cursor's terminal coding agent, started with the `agent` command. It is closed-source and tied to a Cursor account. The pricing page lists a free tier and paid plans. It installs on macOS, Linux and Windows. We read the vendor's pages in October 2026. We did not run an independent test.

Who it is for

Existing Cursor users who want the same agent, MCP setup and models in a terminal or CI. It is not for anyone who needs open source, local models or bring-your-own-key billing.

What stands out

The CLI has agent, plan and ask modes. Print mode (`-p`) with text output suits scripts and CI. Install with `curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash` on macOS, Linux and WSL, or with a PowerShell installer on Windows. It reads the same MCP configuration as the Cursor editor.

Subagents work in the CLI and can run in parallel, each in its own git worktree or cloud environment. A sandbox switch, `/sandbox` or `--sandbox`, also governs network access. Prefixing a task with `&` hands it to a Cursor cloud agent.

Login is by browser or a Cursor-issued API key. The CLI page lists Auto, Grok 4.7, Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol, Fable 5.1 Max, Gemini 3.1 Pro and Composer 2.5. The models docs add Moonshot, Meta, DeepSeek and Z.ai models.

Price and licence

We found no separate CLI price. The pricing page, seen 28 October 2026, marks "Agent" as included on every plan. Free is $0 and limited. Plus is $8 a month, limited to Grok models. Premium is $30, Super $100 and Ultra $200, at 4x, 15x and 50x Plus usage. Teams starts at $30 per user per month. Enterprise is custom.

Third-party models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and others are billed at API list price on Premium and above. Cloud agents and automations need Premium or higher. The software is proprietary. We found no public source repository and read no licence text.

Where it falls short

It is closed-source and needs a Cursor account. A model-provider key does not work for login.
Plus, the cheapest paid plan at $8 a month, covers Grok models only.
Third-party models are billed separately by usage, so cost depends on how much you run.
Cloud agents and automations need Premium or higher.
We found no local-model or BYOK setup in the docs. BYOK appears only in the Teams and Enterprise rate section.
The word CLI appears only in the pricing page's navigation, so we could not confirm which plan includes it.

Alternatives

For open-source options, see Claude Code alternatives. Claude Code and Codex CLI are the closest first-party agents.

Facts: platforms, price and licence

platforms: macOSLinuxWindowsDocs give a shell installer for macOS, Linux and WSL and a PowerShell installer for native Windows; no OS version requirements are published. The command is `agent`.
price: FreemiumNo separate CLI price was found; the pricing page marks 'Agent' as included on every plan (seen 2026-10-28): Free $0 (limited), Plus $8/month (Grok models only), Premium $30, Super $100, Ultra $200 (4x, 15x, 50x Plus usage), Teams $30+/user/month, Enterprise custom. Third-party models (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and others) are billed separately at API list price on Premium and above. Cloud agents and automations need Premium or higher. Model cost comes from the Cursor plan pool plus pay-per-use third-party models.
source: ProprietaryLicence: Proprietary

Cursor CLI features

✓ yes MCP
✓ yes Multi-agent
✓ yes Headless / CI
✓ yes Sandbox
? not verified Local models
? not verified Your own API key
✓ yes Git worktrees
? not verified SSH

✓ documented · – absent or not in its feature list · ? not verified

Cursor CLI strengths

Agent, plan and ask modes, with print mode (-p) and text output for scripts and CI
Uses the same MCP configuration as the Cursor editor
Subagents work in the CLI and can run in parallel, each in its own git worktree or cloud environment
Sandbox switch (/sandbox or --sandbox) that also governs network access; '&' prefix hands a task to a Cloud Agent

Cursor CLI weak points

Proprietary and tied to a Cursor account; login is browser-based or a Cursor-issued API key, not a model-provider key
Cheapest paid plan (Plus, $8/month) is limited to Grok models; third-party models are billed separately by usage
Cloud agents and automations need the Premium plan or higher
No local-model support or BYOK setup found in the docs

Who Cursor CLI is for

best for: Existing Cursor users who want the same agent, MCP setup and models in a terminal or CI.
look elsewhere if: Anyone who needs an open-source tool, local models, or bring-your-own-key billing.

Lists that include Cursor CLI

Sources and what we could not verify

Checked 2026-10-28. Prices and features change; the vendor's page is the authority.

cursor.com/cli — install command, headless/MCP/shell mode listing, model list
cursor.com/docs/cli/overview — PowerShell installer, modes, -p print mode, /sandbox, cloud agent handoff
cursor.com/docs/cli/installation — install commands for macOS/Linux/WSL and native Windows
cursor.com/docs/cli/mcp — CLI supports MCP servers
cursor.com/docs/cli/reference/authentication — browser login or Cursor user API key (CURSOR_API_KEY)
cursor.com/docs/subagents — subagents in editor, CLI and cloud agents; parallel; worktree isolation
cursor.com/docs/models — providers listed; BYOK mention only in rate section; no local models
cursor.com/pricing — plan names, prices, Agent included on all plans, Grok-only on Plus

Not verified

Whether the CLI is explicitly included in each plan: the pricing table has an 'Agent' row but the word CLI appears only in navigation
byok and local_models: docs mention BYOK only in the Teams/Enterprise rate section and say nothing on local models; left null
last_update_seen: no release/changelog page was checked
The pricing page links to 'X Subscription Corp.', x.ai and 'SpaceXSI Subscription Terms'; the commercial relationship was not investigated, and the vendor is recorded simply as Cursor
Windows support is documented via a PowerShell installer; the docs themselves do not use the phrase 'native Windows'