Cursor RTL Chat

Smart multi-language Right-to-Left (RTL) support for Cursor IDE chat, Plan files, and Markdown editors. Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian text is automatically right-aligned while English and code blocks stay left-to-right.

Features

• Smart direction detection — analyzes each chat message and applies dir="rtl" or dir="ltr" per element
• Mixed-language support — Hebrew/Arabic/Persian paragraphs align right; English-heavy content stays left
• Code-safe — code blocks, terminals, tool calls, and UI controls remain LTR
• Plan editor support — RTL works in Cursor Plan markdown views
• Markdown editor support — per-line RTL in the Markdown source editor, Cursor's native Preview | Markdown editor, and the classic side preview. Only RTL-language lines align right; English stays left
• Status bar indicator — click to enable, disable, or check status
• Auto-reapply — restores the patch automatically after Cursor updates (configurable)

Requirements

• Cursor IDE (not VS Code)
• Windows, macOS, or Linux

Installation

From GitHub Release (recommended)

1. Download cursor-rtl-1.1.2.vsix from Releases
2. Verify SHA256 (see checksums.sha256)
3. Install:

cursor --install-extension cursor-rtl-1.1.2.vsix

Or press Ctrl+Shift+P → Extensions: Install from VSIX... → select the file.

From Open VSX

Search Cursor RTL Chat in Cursor Extensions (after publishing to Open VSX).

From source

git clone https://github.com/Satan2049/cursor-rtl.git
cd cursor-rtl
npm install
npm run release:prepare

Press F5 in Cursor for development, or install the generated .vsix.

Usage

1. Ctrl+Shift+P → Cursor RTL: Enable RTL Support
2. Confirm the patch dialog
3. Fully quit Cursor (File → Exit) and reopen
4. Open chat — RTL text aligns automatically

Status bar

Indicator	Meaning
RTL: ON	Patch is active
RTL: OFF	Patch not applied — click to enable
RTL: UPDATE NEEDED	Cursor was updated — click to re-apply

Commands

Command	Action
Cursor RTL: Enable RTL Support	Apply the RTL patch
Cursor RTL: Disable RTL Support	Restore original Cursor files
Cursor RTL: Re-apply After Update	Re-apply after a Cursor upgrade
Cursor RTL: Check Status	Show patch status in Output panel
Cursor RTL: Toggle RTL Support	Enable or disable

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
cursorRtl.autoReapply	true	Auto-reapply patch when Cursor updates overwrite main.js
cursorRtl.showStatusBar	true	Show RTL status in the status bar

Security

Verify downloads with SHA256:

Get-FileHash -Path cursor-rtl-1.1.2.vsix -Algorithm SHA256

Expected hash for v1.1.2:

1FEFFE27E1E67AD4DA938817983ACDF527BB6CD81809F7BC0D1C7B27992F2C6D

Official checksums: checksums.sha256

v1.1.2 scanned clean on VirusTotal (0 detections):

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/1feffe27e1e67ad4da938817983acdf527bb6cd81809f7bc0d1c7b27992f2c6d

How it works

This extension patches Cursor's main.js to load a small Electron loader. The loader injects a runtime script (rtl.js) into the workbench that:

1. Watches the chat DOM for new messages
2. Scores RTL vs LTR characters per text block
3. Applies direction: rtl / text-align: start to matching elements
4. Keeps code blocks, Monaco editors, and tool UI in LTR

The same runtime also styles Cursor's native Preview | Markdown editor (without writing dir into ProseMirror-owned DOM). The classic Markdown side preview is styled separately through VS Code markdown.previewStyles / markdown.previewScripts contributions.

Original main.js is backed up before patching. Disabling restores from backup.

Note: Cursor may show an [Unsupported] warning because the patch modifies internal app files. This is expected for workbench-level RTL injection.

Troubleshooting

Changes not visible after enabling

• Fully quit Cursor (not just Reload Window) and reopen
• Check Output → Cursor RTL for errors

Permission denied

• Windows: run Cursor as Administrator
• macOS: sudo chown -R $USER Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/

RTL stopped after Cursor update

• Click the status bar warning, or run Re-apply After Update
• Enable cursorRtl.autoReapply for automatic restoration

Debug log

• Loader writes to ~/cursor-rtl.log

Uninstall

Uninstalling the extension runs a cleanup script that restores main.js from backup if the patch is still active.

Third-party components

The RTL runtime script (resources/rtl.js) is adapted from cursor-ext-rtl (Apache-2.0). See THIRD_PARTY.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.