---
title: "Cursor cloud runs"
description: "Run workflows on Cursor's cloud VMs; survives Cerevisor restarts, laptop sleep, and network drops."
slug: guides/advanced/cursor-cloud-runs
section: guides
subsection: advanced
canonical_url: https://cerevisor.com/docs/guides/advanced/cursor-cloud-runs
last_verified: 2026-05-18
last_verified_version: "1.2.0"
updated_at: 2026-05-18T15:08:18.053416+00:00
---

The Cursor Agent provider supports two run modes:

| Mode | Where it runs |
|---|---|
| **Local** | In-process via Cursor SDK on your machine. Standard agent run. |
| **Cloud** | On Cursor's cloud VMs. Survives Cerevisor restarts, laptop sleep, network drops. |

> **License gate:** Trial+/Paid only.

## When to use cloud mode

- Long-running workflows (multiple hours).
- Runs where Cerevisor might be closed before completion.
- Runs where laptop sleep would normally interrupt.

For most workflows, local mode is simpler, Cerevisor stays connected and you watch live progress. Cloud mode trades some immediacy for resilience.

## Enabling cloud mode

Per workflow: **Settings → Workflow → Run mode → Cloud**. The mode is only valid when the active provider is Cursor Agent.

Optional knobs:

- **Repository targets**: which Cursor cloud repos the run should attach to.
- **Auto-create PR**: automatically open a pull request for any code changes the agents made. **Destructive by default**: Cerevisor confirms once per workflow before enabling and again the first time a run fires with this set.

## What happens when you click Run

1. Cerevisor calls `Agent.create({ cloud: { repos, autoCreatePR } })` via the Cursor SDK.
2. Cursor spins up a VM and starts the agent.
3. Cerevisor registers a `CloudRunRecord` to the cloud-run tracker (electron-store backed, persisted to disk **before** iterating the stream): so if Cerevisor crashes mid-run, the record survives.
4. Cerevisor streams events back to update the Execution Modal in real time.

You can close the Execution Modal: the run continues on Cursor's VM. The status bar shows a "Cloud run active" indicator.

## Surviving Cerevisor restart

If you quit Cerevisor (or it crashes) mid-cloud-run:

1. The cloud VM keeps running.
2. The local record stays on disk under `cerevisor-cloud-runs`.
3. On next launch, `bootstrapCloudResume()` scans the records. Records that have been silent >24h are flagged as failed.
4. The Cloud Sessions modal shows the resumable runs.

To reconnect:

- Click the **Cloud Sessions** icon in the title bar (only visible if any cloud runs exist).
- Find the run you want to reconnect to.
- Click **Reconnect**.

Cerevisor calls `Agent.resume(cursorAgentId)` to rehydrate the SDK handles, fetches the latest state, and shows you the Execution Modal again.

If the cloud-side run finished while you were away, the modal shows the final state and offers to fetch artifacts.

## Artifacts

After every successful cloud run, Cerevisor downloads any artifacts the run produced to `~/.cerevisor/cloud-artifacts/<sessionPrefix>/<agentPrefix>/`.

You can manually re-fetch via the Cloud Sessions modal → **Refetch artifacts** button.

Artifact paths are sanitized, remote paths with slashes don't recreate as nested local directories.

## Cancellation

To cancel an active cloud run:

- Cloud Sessions modal → find the run → **Cancel**.
- Cerevisor calls Cursor's cancel API; the cloud VM shuts down.

## Dismissing finished runs

Completed runs stay in the Cloud Sessions modal until you dismiss them. Click **Dismiss** on a completed run to remove it from the list (artifacts stay on disk).

## What doesn't work in cloud mode (v1)

- **File intelligence**: mtime tracking doesn't span across the local-to-cloud boundary cleanly.
- **Cerevisor's MCP client**: Cursor owns its own `mcpServers` config; cloud-side connectivity is your deploy concern.
- **Per-tool permission modal**: sandbox/approval is up-front, same as local Cursor and Codex.
- **Loop & Enhance**: each round spins up a fresh cloud agent. Works, but the inter-round handoff is rougher than local.

## Cost

Cursor bills cloud runs against your Cursor subscription. Cerevisor reports `$0.00` in run cost (subscription-billed, no per-token visibility).

## When NOT to use cloud mode

- Short workflows (< 5 minutes): overhead of VM spin-up isn't worth it.
- Workflows that touch local files extensively: file intelligence isn't reliable across the boundary.
- Workflows where you want live per-tool permission prompts; those don't work in cloud mode.

For local-first workflows that just need to survive Cerevisor closing, local Cursor mode + the cloud-run tracker's resume logic handles most cases gracefully.

## Why Cursor and not other providers

Cursor is the only provider Cerevisor supports with first-class cloud execution that the SDK exposes. Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, and Codex are all local-execution from Cerevisor's perspective; they call hosted APIs, but the agent loop runs on your machine. Cursor's cloud mode runs the *entire agent* on Cursor's infrastructure, including its own tool calls and sandboxing.