Why My Cursor IDE Settings Disappeared and How I Kept Them Safe

As a developer working on AI projects across multiple machines, I loved Cursor IDE’s features. But then I hit a snag: every time I switched devices, my custom keybindings and settings disappeared. It wasn’t just annoying—it slowed down my work. After some digging, I figured out why syncing isn’t supported and created a manual workaround. It saved me hours of setup time.

The Core Problem: Lost Settings Across Devices

I spent weeks getting my keybindings just right on my main desktop. Then, when I opened Cursor on my laptop? Everything was gone. Without automatic sync, I was constantly at risk of losing my customizations. A crash or switching devices meant starting over. It became a real drain on my productivity, especially when deadlines were tight.

What I Discovered About Cursor’s Limitations

Looking into it, I found that Cursor IDE doesn’t have built-in syncing for settings, keybindings, or chat history. That’s different from VS Code, which syncs via GitHub or Microsoft accounts. With Cursor, you have to manage everything manually. So your configurations aren’t backed up or shared automatically. For someone like me who uses multiple devices, that’s a real challenge.

My Step-by-Step Workaround Solution

To avoid losing my settings again, I set up a simple manual backup system. Here’s how I keep everything in sync:

• Step 1: Find and back up your settings files – On your computer, look for key files like settings.json and keybindings.json. They’re in the Cursor config folder. On Windows, that’s usually %APPDATA%\Cursor. On Mac, it’s ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor. I copy these files to a cloud service, like GitHub Gists or Dropbox.
• Step 2: Use VS Code profiles as a backup – Because Cursor works with VS Code settings, you can export a VS Code profile from one machine and import it on another. This gets most settings over, but it might miss some Cursor-specific tweaks.
• Step 3: Automate with scripts – I wrote a simple script to back up my files to the cloud automatically. For example, set up a cron job (on Mac/Linux) or a scheduled task (on Windows) to run daily. That way, I always have recent backups without thinking about it.

It’s not perfect—chat history still can’t be synced. But it gives me peace of mind until Cursor adds native support.

Looking Ahead: Hopes for the Future

I hope Cursor adds built-in syncing soon—maybe with GitHub like VS Code. In the meantime, this manual method keeps my settings safe and my workflow smooth. If you’re dealing with the same issue, try this out. It might save you some frustration!