Cursor Drive

March 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

A voice-first, multi-operator pair-programming layer for Cursor IDE. Steer operators via voice and chat; they share the Agent Screen. No cloud, no accounts.

The idea in one interaction

You (spoken):  "uhh maybe like refactor auth and also tangent — explore that
                new clerk integration in parallel"

Drive hears:   "Refactor auth module"
               + spawns Agent-2 on: "Research Clerk auth integration options"

Status bar:    Drive > Agent  [Agent-1: auth refactor]  [Agent-2: clerk research]

Agent-1 speaks: "Done — extracted AuthService, added tests. Summary in
                 docs/auth-refactor.md, want details?"

Agent-2 speaks: (different voice) "Found three integration paths. Sharing screen."

Operator Flow in Drive Mode

flowchart LR
  User --> WakeWord[Wake word]
  WakeWord --> DriveMode[Drive mode activated]
  DriveMode --> AgentPlans[Cursor agent plans work]
  AgentPlans --> Operators[Creates operators]
  Operators --> ShareScreen[Operator shares screen]
  ShareScreen --> User

Drive mode transforms Cursor into a senior engineer pair-programming partner: concise, proactive, explains when helpful, challenges your choices once before deferring. You and your operators see the same screen in real time.

Installation

Prerequisites: Node 20+, npm, Cursor IDE.

git clone https://github.com/drive-mode/cursor-drive
cd cursor-drive
npm install
npm run compile

Press F5 in Cursor to launch an Extension Development Host.

MCP one-click install: Install Drive MCP — click or paste into the browser. The extension must be running; if port 7891 is in use, the server uses 7892, 7893, etc. — check the Cursor Drive output channel.

MCP Apps (Cursor 2.6+): Enable cursorDrive.mcp.enableApps for inline Agent Screen UI. See demo-mcp-apps.

Quick Start

Clone and install (see above).
Run npm run compile.
Press F5 in Cursor to open the Extension Development Host.
Toggle Drive or use the first-run prompt.

See getting started for the full dev loop.

Architecture

Extension (src/), plugin layer (.cursor/), and MCP server — bridged at :7891.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Cursor IDE                               │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │  Extension (src/)     MCP :7891     .cursor/ Plugin      │    │
│  │  Pipeline, S-AS, TTS  ←→ Bridge ←→  skills, rules, hooks│    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Extension vs Cursor Plugin: The VS Code extension provides UI (status bar, Drive sidebar, Agent Screen). The Cursor Plugin (.cursor-plugin/) adds AI behavior (skills, rules). MCP Apps (Cursor 2.6+) enable inline UI in chat when cursorDrive.mcp.enableApps is on.

UI surfaces: Status bar (click → mode QuickPick), Drive sidebar (Activity Bar icon), Agent Screen (tab/panel). Ctrl+Shift+D toggles Drive. Composer (chat, send button, mic) is not extensible — extensions run in the extension host. See drive-ui-surfaces-and-devtools.

See docs/architecture/README.md for the component map and ADRs.

Key design decisions

Principle	What it means
No cloud	TTS, filler cleaning, MCP run locally. ElevenLabs optional.
Config-first	Every behavior is a setting. Privacy-strict defaults. See config schema.
Cursor-native	Wraps Agent/Plan/Ask/Debug; `beforeSubmitPrompt` is primary entry. See ADR-0008.
Concise-first	Summarizes, tells you where things went, waits. Configurable verbosity.

Source modules

Component	Purpose
`extension.ts`	Entry point, commands, MCP server
`driveMode.ts`	Drive state, `active` + `subMode`
`statusBar.ts`	Status bar, mode QuickPick
`router.ts`	Intent routing: plan/run/direct/collab
`modelSelector.ts`	3-tier cost selection
`fillerCleaner.ts`	Client-side filler removal
`operatorRegistry.ts`	Operator pool: spawn, switch, merge
`agentScreen.ts`	Agent Screen (S-AS) webview
`tts.ts`	OS-native speech via say.js
`mcpServer.ts`	Local HTTP server on :7891

Full component map in docs/architecture/README.md.

Multi-agent / Tangent flow

Spawn parallel operators, switch focus, merge context.

You:       "/tangent — explore the Clerk integration"
Drive:     spawns operator Beta, background
           Alpha continues (auth refactor)

You:       "/switch clerk"
Drive:     Beta foreground, Alpha background

You:       "/merge Beta into Alpha"
Drive:     Beta context merged into Alpha, Beta retired

See prd-multi-agent for the full spec.

Documentation

Topic	Where
Architecture, ADRs	docs/architecture/
Guides, dev setup	docs/guides/
Config, MCP tools	docs/reference/
PRDs	docs/prd/
Design rationale	docs/design/
Contributing	CONTRIBUTING.md

Status

Core pipeline working: filler cleaner, router, model selector, status bar, TTS (say.js), operator registry, Share-AgentScreen (S-AS) webview, MCP server with tools. Prompt optimizer pending (tracked in .cursor/plans/archive/mvp-gaps.plan.md). Several modules have unit tests.

Support / Contributing

Contributing: See CONTRIBUTING.md for branch strategy, PR workflow, and code quality.
Issues: GitHub Issues for bugs and feature requests.
Docs: docs/README.md for the full doc index.