cursor-to-api

Use your Cursor subscription as a local OpenAI-compatible HTTP API.

This is a launcher and test UI around cursor-api-proxy. It fixes the pain points of running the proxy directly:

• Loads CURSOR_API_KEY from .env (bare npx cursor-api-proxy does not)
• Auto-detects agent on Windows (%LOCALAPPDATA%\cursor-agent\)
• Sets safe defaults (chat-only, force) so auth and trust work out of the box
• Includes a browser test UI and doctor command

Not official. Community tool. Uses your Cursor subscription quota, not a separate OpenAI key.

Quick start

Prerequisites

1. Cursor CLI (agent command)
2. Node.js 18+
3. Cursor API Key — Cursor Settings → API Keys

Install

npm install -g cursor-to-api
# or try without install:
npx cursor-to-api doctor

Configure

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env — set CURSOR_API_KEY=crsr_...

.env is read from (first match wins):

1. Current working directory
2. ~/.cursor-to-api/.env
3. Package directory (development)

Run

cursor-to-api start    # proxy + test UI → http://127.0.0.1:3456
cursor-to-api proxy    # proxy only → http://127.0.0.1:8765/v1
cursor-to-api init --key crsr_xxx   # write ~/.cursor-to-api/.env
cursor-to-api doctor   # diagnose agent / key / proxy

Windows: double-click scripts/start.cmd after cloning the repo.

Use from any OpenAI client

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="http://127.0.0.1:8765/v1",
    api_key="unused",
)

print(client.chat.completions.create(
    model="auto",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
).choices[0].message.content)

Modes

Pass header X-Cursor-Mode: ask|plan|agent or set CURSOR_BRIDGE_MODE in env.

| Mode | Behavior | |------|----------| | ask | Read-only exploration | | plan | Planning, read-only | | agent | Full agent — can edit files and run commands |

Architecture

OpenAI client (SDK / LiteLLM / LangChain / …)
    → POST /v1/chat/completions
    → cursor-api-proxy (:8765)   ← spawned by cursor-to-api
    → Cursor CLI (agent)
    → Cursor cloud models

cursor-to-api start also serves a test page on :3456 that proxies /api/proxy/* to the upstream API.

Why not npx cursor-api-proxy?

Direct npx cursor-api-proxy:

• Does not load .env → authentication fails
• On Windows, agent is often not on PATH → "Command not found: agent"
• Workspace trust / --force must be configured manually

cursor-to-api handles all of that before spawning the proxy.

Environment variables

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | CURSOR_API_KEY | — | Required (or agent login) | | CURSOR_BRIDGE_PORT | 8765 | Proxy listen port | | TEST_SERVER_PORT | 3456 | Test UI port | | CURSOR_BRIDGE_CHAT_ONLY_WORKSPACE | true if API key set | Sandbox workspace + --trust | | CURSOR_BRIDGE_FORCE | true | Skip workspace trust prompt | | CURSOR_AGENT_BIN | auto-detected | Override agent path |

See cursor-api-proxy docs for full bridge options.

Open source this repo

To publish as a standalone GitHub project:

cd tools/cursor-to-api
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial release: cursor-to-api launcher"
# create github.com/lzpzywoo/cursor-to-api
git remote add origin https://github.com/lzpzywoo/cursor-to-api.git
git push -u origin main
npm publish   # after npm login; update package.json repository/author

Update repository and author in package.json before publishing.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Related

• cursor-api-proxy — the underlying OpenAI bridge
• Cursor CLI docs
• Cursor Skill — for Cursor users: paste API key, Agent runs setup (install guide)