Dump Cursor notepads as JSON (Mac version)

dump_cursor_notepads.sh

WORKSPACE_ID=$(./get_cursor_workspace_id.sh <path>)  sqlite3 "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/$WORKSPACE_ID/st
ate.vscdb" "SELECT value FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'notepad.reactiveStorageId';" | python3 -c "import sys, json; pri
nt(json.dumps(json.loads(sys.stdin.read()), indent=2))" 2>/dev/null | jq '.notepads | to_entries[] | .value | {name: 
.name, content: .text} '

get_cursor_workspace_id.sh

# get_cursor_workspace_id.sh - Get Cursor workspace ID for a given path

# Check if path argument is provided
if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
    echo "Usage: 0 USD /path/to/workspace" >&2
    exit 1
fi

# Normalize input path (remove trailing slash)
SEARCH_PATH="${1%/}"

# Expand tilde in path
if [[ "$SEARCH_PATH" == "~"* ]]; then
    SEARCH_PATH="${SEARCH_PATH/#\~/$HOME}"
fi

# Look for workspace folders in Cursor storage
CURSOR_STORAGE_DIR="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage"

# Try alternative location if not found
if [ ! -d "$CURSOR_STORAGE_DIR" ]; then
    CURSOR_STORAGE_DIR="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/workspaceStorage"
    
    if [ ! -d "$CURSOR_STORAGE_DIR" ]; then
        echo "Error: Cursor workspace storage not found" >&2
        exit 1
    fi
fi

# Find workspace ID for the specified path
for dir in "$CURSOR_STORAGE_DIR"/*; do
    if [ ! -d "$dir" ]; then
        continue
    fi
    
    dir_id=$(basename "$dir")
    
    # Check if workspace.json exists and extract folder path
    if [ -f "$dir/workspace.json" ]; then
        folder_path=$(grep -o '"folder":[^,]*' "$dir/workspace.json" 2>/dev/null | sed 's/"folder": "file:\/\/\///g' | sed 's/"//g')
        
        if [ -n "$folder_path" ]; then
            # Add leading slash if needed
            if [[ $folder_path == Users/* ]]; then
                folder_path="/$folder_path"
            fi
            
            # Remove trailing slash
            folder_path="${folder_path%/}"
            
            # Check for exact path match
            if [ "$folder_path" = "$SEARCH_PATH" ]; then
                echo "$dir_id"
                exit 0
            fi
        fi
    fi
done

# No workspace found
echo "Error: No workspace found for path: $SEARCH_PATH" >&2
exit 1

migrate_cursor_notepads.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Validate platform
[[ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ]] && echo "❌ macOS only" && exit 1

# Check dependencies
for bin in sqlite3 jq python3 realpath; do
  command -v "$bin" >/dev/null || { echo "❌ Missing: $bin"; exit 1; }
done

# Usage
if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
  echo "Usage: migrate_cursor_notepads.sh /from/workspace /to/workspace [--dry-run]" >&2
  exit 1
fi

FROM="$(realpath "${1%/}")"
TO="$(realpath "${2%/}")"
DRY_RUN=0 && [[ "$3" == "--dry-run" ]] && DRY_RUN=1
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"

# Resolve workspace IDs
SRC_ID=$("$SCRIPT_DIR/get_cursor_workspace_id.sh" "$FROM") || exit 1
DST_ID=$("$SCRIPT_DIR/get_cursor_workspace_id.sh" "$TO") || exit 1

SRC_DB="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/$SRC_ID/state.vscdb"
DST_DB="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/$DST_ID/state.vscdb"

# Backup
BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/.cursor_backups"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
TS=$(date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
cp "$DST_DB" "$BACKUP_DIR/state.vscdb.bak.$DST_ID.$TS" || { echo "❌ Backup failed"; exit 1; }

# Extract notepads
RAW=$(sqlite3 "$SRC_DB" "SELECT value FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'notepad.reactiveStorageId';")
[[ -z "$RAW" ]] && echo "⚠️ No notepads found in source" && exit 1

# Dry-run mode
if [ "$DRY_RUN" -eq 1 ]; then
  echo "🧪 Dry-run only — showing source notepads:"
  echo "$RAW" | jq '.notepads | to_entries[] | .value | {name: .name, text: (.text[0:60] + "...")}'
  exit 0
fi

# Serialize JSON safely for SQLite
ESCAPED_JSON=$(python3 -c 'import sys, json; print(json.dumps(sys.stdin.read()))' <<< "$RAW")

# Replace or insert key safely
KEY_EXISTS=$(sqlite3 "$DST_DB" "SELECT 1 FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'notepad.reactiveStorageId';")
if [[ "$KEY_EXISTS" == "1" ]]; then
  sqlite3 "$DST_DB" "UPDATE ItemTable SET value = $ESCAPED_JSON WHERE key = 'notepad.reactiveStorageId';"
else
  sqlite3 "$DST_DB" "INSERT INTO ItemTable (key, value) VALUES ('notepad.reactiveStorageId', $ESCAPED_JSON);"
fi

[[ $? -eq 0 ]] && echo "✅ Migration complete. Backup: $BACKUP_DIR/state.vscdb.bak.$DST_ID.$TS" || echo "❌ DB write failed"

• get_cursor_workspace_id.sh works fine for me
• dump_cursor_notepads.sh throws

Error: in prepare, no such table: ItemTable

---

Version: 0.48.9
VSCode Version: 1.96.2
Commit: 61e99179e4080fecf9d8b92c6e2e3e00fbfb53f0
Date: 2025-04-12T18:33:49.349Z (2 days ago)
Electron: 34.3.4
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.18.3
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 23.6.0

---

Also I should note that I lost my notepads after restart, at least from the UI, was wondering if I'd be able to get them back with this script.

But maybe the reason the table doesn't exist is bc the notepads are gone forever.

Hey @devidw
Sorry to hear that, ig it's related to the latest cursor updates
Could you share the .vscdb file from your workspace ($HOME/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/$WORKSPACE_ID/state.vscdb)?

ah sry i didn't see this earlier, i made by deal with the lost notes, but much appreciated @lushkovsky-s <3