update-cli-config

name	update-cli-config
description	View and modify Cursor CLI configuration settings in ~/.cursor/cli-config.json. Use when the user wants to change CLI settings, configure permissions, switch approval mode, enable vim mode, toggle display options, configure sandbox, or manage any CLI preferences.
metadata	{"surfaces":["cli"]}

Cursor CLI Configuration

This skill explains how to view and modify Cursor CLI settings stored in ~/.cursor/cli-config.json.

Config File Location

The config file is ~/.cursor/cli-config.json.

Projects can layer overrides via .cursor/cli.json files. The CLI walks from the git root to the current working directory and merges each .cursor/cli.json it finds (deeper files take precedence). Project overrides only affect the current session; they are not written back to the home config.

How to Modify

Read ~/.cursor/cli-config.json, apply changes, and write it back. The file is standard JSON. Changes take effect after restarting the CLI.

Available Settings

permissions (required)

Tool permission rules. Each entry is a string pattern.

• allow: string[] — patterns for allowed tool calls (e.g. "Shell(**)", "Mcp(server-name, tool-name)")
• deny: string[] — patterns for denied tool calls

editor

• vimMode: boolean — enable vim keybindings in the CLI input
• defaultBehavior: "ide" | "agent" — default behavior mode

display (optional)

• showLineNumbers: boolean (default: false)
• showThinkingBlocks: boolean (default: false)
• showStatusIndicators: boolean (default: false)

channel (optional)

Release channel: "prod" | "staging" | "lab" | "static"

maxMode (optional)

boolean (default: false)

approvalMode (optional)

• "allowlist" (default)
• "unrestricted"

sandbox (optional)

• mode: "disabled" | "enabled"
• networkAccess: "user_config_only" | "user_config_with_defaults" | "allow_all"
• networkAllowlist: string[]

network (optional)

• useHttp1ForAgent: boolean (default: false)

bedrock (optional)

AWS Bedrock integration settings.

attribution (optional)

• attributeCommitsToAgent: boolean (default: true)
• attributePRsToAgent: boolean (default: true)

webFetchDomainAllowlist (optional)

string[]

Fields You Should NOT Modify

• version, model, selectedModel, modelParameters, hasChangedDefaultModel
• privacyCache, authInfo, showSandboxIntro, conversationClassificationScoredConversations