Cursor ships a native installer for every platform: a disk image on macOS 12 or later for Apple Silicon, Intel, or universal; a system or user installer on Windows 10 or later for x64 and ARM64; and .deb, .rpm, or AppImage builds on Linux. The apt and yum repositories are preferred over the AppImage because they give desktop integration, automatic updates, and the CLI tools. The Cursor CLI installs separately with one command.
- macOS 12 Monterey or later; Windows 10 or later. Both have ARM builds.
- On Windows pick user installer unless you need it for every account on the box.
- On Linux use the apt or yum repository, not the AppImage, for auto-updates and CLI tools.
- The CLI is a separate install:
curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash, thenagent. - It imports your VS Code extensions, settings, and keybindings on first launch.
Pick the right build
Cursor publishes twelve desktop artefacts. Almost every install problem people report is that they took the wrong one, so start here.
Available downloads, checked August 2026. Latest release line at the time of writing was 3.15.
| Platform | Builds | Take this one |
|---|---|---|
| macOS | ARM64, x64, Universal | ARM64 on Apple Silicon, x64 on Intel |
| Windows | x64 and ARM64, each as system or user installer | User installer, matching your architecture |
| Linux | .deb, .rpm, AppImage, each x64 and ARM64 | The repository for your distribution |
- macOS 12 (Monterey) and later, Apple Silicon and Intel both supported.
- Windows 10 and later.
- Universal is the safe macOS choice if you are unsure which Mac you have; it is simply a larger file.
macOS
Download and install
Take the ARM64 build on Apple Silicon or the x64 build on Intel from cursor.com/downloads, open the disk image, and drag Cursor into Applications.
Launch it and import from VS Code
On first launch Cursor offers to bring across your VS Code extensions, settings, and keybindings. Accept it. Because Cursor is a fork rather than an extension, the import is genuinely a copy of your existing setup and not an approximation.
Sign in
Cursor needs an account before the AI features do anything. The free Hobby tier works for evaluating it, with limited agent requests. See Cursor pricing for what each tier actually includes.
Windows
Download the installer that matches both your architecture and your intent, run it, and let it import your VS Code configuration on first launch.
| Installer | Installs to | Needs admin | Choose when |
|---|---|---|---|
| User | Your user profile | No | Personal or single-user machine |
| System | Program Files, all accounts | Yes | Shared machine or managed rollout |
ARM64 Windows has its own builds of both installers, so a Snapdragon machine runs Cursor natively rather than under emulation. Do not install the x64 build on an ARM device just because it also runs.
Linux
Three formats, and the choice is not cosmetic. Cursor documents apt and yum packages as preferred over the AppImage, because the packages provide desktop icons, automatic updates, and the CLI tools, and the AppImage provides none of those.
Debian and Ubuntu
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
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cursorFedora and RHEL
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/cursor.repo <<'EOF'
[cursor]
name=Cursor
baseurl=https://downloads.cursor.com/yumrepo
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://downloads.cursor.com/keys/anysphere.asc
EOF
sudo dnf install cursorAppImage, for everything else
Use this only when neither repository fits your distribution. It is portable and self-contained, and in exchange you update it by hand every time.
chmod +x Cursor-*.AppImage
./Cursor-*.AppImageThe Cursor CLI
Cursor also ships a terminal agent, installed separately from the editor. It is the surface to reach for when you want delegated work in a terminal rather than assisted editing in a window.
curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bashirm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iexThe binary is agent. If your shell cannot find it after installing, ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH.
agent --version
# not found? add the install directory
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc # or ~/.bashrc
source ~/.zshrc
# the CLI self-updates; this forces it now
agent updateThe two Cursor surfaces, and when each one is the right tool.
| Editor | CLI | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Desktop application | Terminal agent |
| Best at | Editing code you are reading | Delegated whole tasks |
| Install | Installer per platform | One command |
| Updates | In-app, or via your package manager | Automatic, or agent update |
When the install misbehaves
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Runs slowly on Apple Silicon | You installed the x64 build | Reinstall the ARM64 or universal build |
| Updates fail on Windows | System installer without admin rights | Reinstall with the user installer |
| No desktop icon on Linux | AppImage has no desktop integration | Switch to the apt or yum package |
agent: command not found | ~/.local/bin not on PATH | Add it to your shell profile |
apt install cursor finds nothing | Repository not registered or key missing | Re-run the key and repo steps, then apt update |
| Extensions did not carry over | Import declined on first launch | Re-run the VS Code import from settings |
Questions people ask
From cursor.com/downloads, which publishes macOS ARM64, x64 and universal builds, Windows x64 and ARM64 in system and user installer variants, and Linux .deb, .rpm and AppImage builds for both architectures.
macOS 12 (Monterey) or later on Apple Silicon or Intel, or Windows 10 or later. On Linux, any distribution that can take the .deb or .rpm package, with the AppImage as the fallback.
The user installer, unless you are deploying to a shared machine. It installs into your own profile, needs no administrator rights, and updates without prompting for elevation.
Register the Cursor apt repository at downloads.cursor.com/aptrepo and run sudo apt install cursor, or configure the yum repository at downloads.cursor.com/yumrepo and run sudo dnf install cursor. The packages are preferred over the AppImage because they add desktop integration, automatic updates, and CLI tools.
Yes. The download costs nothing and the Hobby tier is free with limited agent requests. Pro is $20 a month as of August 2026; see the pricing guide for what each tier includes.
Yes. Cursor is a fork of VS Code and offers to import your extensions, settings, and keybindings on first launch, so switching costs very little.
Run curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash on macOS, Linux, or WSL, or irm 'https://cursor.com/install?win32=true' | iex in Windows PowerShell. The command is agent, and it lives in ~/.local/bin.
Technically an editor, since it is a fork of VS Code, but with agent mode, an integrated terminal, and multi-file editing it covers most of what people mean by IDE. It is not a JetBrains-style language-specific IDE.
Sources
Every figure above was read from these pages on August 2026. Vendors reprice without notice; if you find a stale number, tell us.
- Cursor installation guide per-platform install and Linux repositories
- Cursor downloads the full list of published builds
- Cursor CLI installation the agent command and its install script