Guide
Cursor agent waiting for approval? How to answer it from anywhere
The Cursor agent can run shell commands and MCP tools, and it waits for you when it needs a yes. Cursor has its own alerts, but they only help while you are in Cursor's world. Herdbell shows the same request wherever you are on your Mac.
What you can do for Cursor in Herdbell
- Allow or deny shell commands and MCP tools as a card at your cursor.
- Harmless read-only commands (like
git status) are allowed without asking, so you are only asked about the ones that matter. - Reply when it finishes: your reply goes back as the agent's follow-up message.
- Questions: when Cursor asks you something in its window, Herdbell shows it and you answer in Cursor.
What stays in Cursor
- Cursor cannot be stopped from outside, so there is no Stop button for it. End removes the chat from Herdbell only.
- Other prompts, such as accepting a file edit, are not visible to Herdbell.
- Herdbell can only reply right after a turn ends. It cannot start a message in a chat that has already ended, so for that open Cursor.
Set it up
- Connect Cursor in onboarding or on the Agents page. Herdbell adds its hooks to
~/.cursor/hooks.jsonafter backing the file up. - Start a chat in Cursor. The first command it wants to run appears as a card.
- Press Return to allow or D to deny.
Common questions
Does Herdbell work with the Cursor desktop app?
Yes. It connects through Cursor's hooks, so it sees chats in the app and shows their commands and replies.
Does Herdbell approve Cursor file edits?
No. Herdbell handles shell commands and MCP tools. Accepting a file edit stays in Cursor.