Cursor

Cursor is a first-class context-mode host. It uses native lower-camel hook names and flat hook entries in .cursor/hooks.json (not Claude Code's settings.json format), so context-mode routes data-heavy tool output into the sandbox and keeps the bulk of raw payload bytes out of your context window. Cursor wires three hooks — preToolUse, postToolUse, and stop — and relies on a routing rules file (.cursor/rules/context-mode.mdc) for session-start awareness, because Cursor's sessionStart hook is currently rejected by its validator.

Install

Choose the local-folder plugin path or the manual config path. Both deliver the same routing; pick whichever fits your workflow.

git clone https://github.com/mksglu/context-mode.git

ln -s "$PWD/context-mode" ~/.cursor/plugins/local/context-mode

robocopy . "$env:USERPROFILE\.cursor\plugins\local\context-mode" /MIR

npm install -g context-mode

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context-mode": {
      "command": "context-mode"
    }
  }
}

{
  "version": 1,
  "hooks": {
    "preToolUse": [
      { "command": "context-mode hook cursor pretooluse" }
    ],
    "postToolUse": [
      { "command": "context-mode hook cursor posttooluse" }
    ],
    "stop": [
      { "command": "context-mode hook cursor stop" }
    ]
  }
}

mkdir -p .cursor/rules
cp node_modules/context-mode/configs/cursor/context-mode.mdc .cursor/rules/context-mode.mdc

Hooks

Configure

Configuration is optional. context-mode reads its session ID from the conversation_id field on Cursor's hook payloads, falling back to CURSOR_TRACE_ID and then the parent process ID.

See /docs/configuration for storage relocation with CONTEXT_MODE_DIR and the full list of environment variables.

Verify

Confirm the install with the doctor. It checks language runtimes, the FTS5 knowledge base, and hook registration, then reports anything that needs attention.

context-mode doctor

A clean run means context-mode is ready to route your next data-heavy command.

Related