Import VSCode Extensions into Cursor via CLI

cursor-extension-importer.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# vim: ft=bash
#
# © 2025 Konstantin Gredeskoul
# http://github.com/kigster | https://kig.re
#  
# This script allows you to export the list of your VSCode
# extensions and import them into, eg. Cursor IDE. Or the
# other way around. By the default the script continues on
# import errors because there are typically quite a few.
# If you'd rather it abort upon an error, then pass -s flag.
#
# USAGE:
#    code --list-extensions > extensions.list
#    ./cursor-extension-importer.sh cursor extensions.list
#–—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

set +e

export script="$(basename $0)"
export ignore_errors=true

main() {
  local executable="${1:-"cursor"}"
  local extension_list="${2:-"extensions.list"}"

  if [[ $* =~ -h|--help || -z "$*" ]]; then
    usage
    return 0
  fi

  if [[ $* =~ -s|--strict ]]; then
    export ignore_errors=false
  fi

  command -V "${executable}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
    echo "ERROR: executable [${executable}] is not in the \$PATH"
    return 1
  }

  [[ -s "${extension_list}" ]] || {
    echo "ERROR: extension listing file [${extension_list}] does not exist or is empty."
    echo " HINT: generate the file with eg 'code --list-extensions > extensions.list'."
    return 2
  }

  local -a extensions
  extensions=( $(tr '\n' ' ' <${extension_list}) )

  local existing_extensions=$(mktemp)
  ${executable} --list-extensions > ${existing_extensions} 2>&1

  echo "Installing ${#extensions[@]} extensions..."

  ${ignore_errors} || set -e

  local extension
  local code
  local -a failures

  for extension in "${extensions[@]}"; do
    printf "\n→ \e[4;33m%-40.40s                \e[0m\n" \
      "${extension}"

    grep -q -E "^${extension}$" ${existing_extensions} && {
      printf "→ \e[0;32mAlready installed, skipping.\e[0m\n"
      continue
    } 

    ${executable} --force --install-extension ${extension}

    code=$?
    if [[ ${code} -ne 0 ]] ; then
      failures+=( ${extension} )
      printf "\n→ \e[4;34mIgnoring error and continuing...\e[0m\n"
    fi
  done

  if [[ ${#failures[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
    local error_file="${extension_list}.errors"
    printf "\n\e[0;33mWARNING:\e[0m"
    printf "The following extensions failed to install:\n"
    echo   "NOTE: the list is also saved into the file [${error_file}]."
    
    # dump them to stderr AND and a file
    echo "${failures[@]}" | tr ' ' '\n' >&2
    echo "${failures[@]}" | tr ' ' '\n' >"${error_file}"
  fi

  return "${#failures[@]}"
}

usage() {
  printf "\
\e[1;34mDESCRIPTION:\e[0m
  This script allows you to export the list of your VSCode 
  extensions and import them into, eg. Cursor IDE. Or the 
  other way around. By the default the script continues on
  import errors because there are typically quite a few.
  If you'd rather it abort upon an error, then pass -s flag.

\e[1;34mUSAGE:\e[0m
  \e[0;33m./${script} executable extensions-list [ -s | --strict ]\e[0m

\e[1;34mFLAGS:\e[0m
  -s | --strict           If passed causes the script to abort
                          upon ANY error importing the extension.

  -h | --help             This help message. Doh!

\e[1;34mEXAMPLE:\e[0m 
  \e[1mImport VSCode Extensions into Cursor\e[0m

  Assuming your VSCode command is 'code' (the 'executable' 
  argument in the usage above) and your Cursor AI command is 
  'cursor', and you'd like to migrate extensions from VSCode 
  to Cursor, you would then run:\e[0;32m
    
    code --list-extensions > extensions.list
    \e[3;37m# Potentially edit the list manually  \e[0;32m
    vim extensions.list
    ./${script} cursor extensions.list\e[0m

  NOTE: while the export step could've been automated, we 
  chose this method because it allows you to manually edit
  the extensions.list file before importing it and remove 
  any extensions you do not want to have in both places.

  The script's exit code is the number of failed extensions.
  The list of failed extensions will be also dumped to a file.

\e[0m"
}

main "$@"