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Trace Cursor IDE and CLI conversations, shell commands, MCP tools, and file operations in Arize AX for full observability.
Cursor is an AI code editor for agentic software development. The Arize Coding Harness Tracing instruments Cursor IDE and CLI hook events and exports OpenInference spans to Arize AX or Phoenix. A Cursor conversation maps to a session, and each message turn maps to a trace.

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Launch Arize AX

To get started, sign up for a free Arize AX account and get your Space ID and API Key:
  1. Log in at app.arize.com
  2. Click Settings and copy the Space ID
  3. Open the API Keys tab and create or copy an API key

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Install

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Curl installer

macOS / Linux: 
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arize-ai/coding-harness-tracing/main/install.sh | bash -s -- cursor
Windows (PowerShell): 
iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arize-ai/coding-harness-tracing/main/install.bat -OutFile $env:TEMP\install.bat
& $env:TEMP\install.bat cursor

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Local clone

git clone https://github.com/Arize-ai/coding-harness-tracing.git
cd coding-harness-tracing
./install.sh cursor        # macOS / Linux
install.bat cursor         # Windows
The installer prompts for your backend (Phoenix or Arize AX) and project name, writes credentials to ~/.arize/harness/config.yaml, and registers the hooks in ~/.cursor/hooks.json. Both Cursor IDE and Cursor CLI sessions are instrumented from the same configuration.

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Configuration

Credentials live in ~/.arize/harness/config.yaml. Environment variables override values in config.yaml and can be set in your shell profile so they apply to Cursor IDE and Cursor CLI sessions.

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Phoenix (self-hosted)

export PHOENIX_ENDPOINT="http://localhost:6006"
export ARIZE_PROJECT_NAME="cursor"
export ARIZE_TRACE_ENABLED="true"

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Arize AX (cloud)

export ARIZE_API_KEY="<your-api-key>"
export ARIZE_SPACE_ID="<your-space-id>"
export ARIZE_PROJECT_NAME="cursor"
export ARIZE_TRACE_ENABLED="true"

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Redaction controls

Each ARIZE_LOG_* flag accepts "true" or "false" and defaults to "true". Set to "false" to opt out per category: 
export ARIZE_LOG_PROMPTS="false"
export ARIZE_LOG_TOOL_DETAILS="false"
export ARIZE_LOG_TOOL_CONTENT="false"
FlagRedacts
ARIZE_LOG_PROMPTSUser prompt and assistant response text
ARIZE_LOG_TOOL_DETAILSTool names and arguments
ARIZE_LOG_TOOL_CONTENTTool call output content (shell output, MCP results, file contents)

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Observe

Once tracing is enabled, Cursor activity is streamed to Arize AX. You’ll see:
  • Session grouping by conversation_id for each Cursor conversation
  • Turn traces by generation_id for each message turn
  • User prompt spans for submitted prompts
  • Agent response spans with model output
  • Agent thinking spans when Cursor emits reasoning/thought events
  • Shell spans with command input and command output merged into a single tool span
  • MCP spans named MCP: {tool} with tool input and result
  • File read and edit spans for file operations, including tab reads and edits
The default project name is cursor unless you set ARIZE_PROJECT_NAME.

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Hooks Captured

Cursor IDE fires the full set of hooks. Cursor CLI fires a subset (no prompt/response, MCP, or file-read events).
HookIDECLICaptured Data
sessionStart✓✓Session boundary, state init
sessionEnd✓✓Session teardown
beforeSubmitPrompt✓User prompt span for the turn root
afterAgentResponse✓Agent response text and model metadata
afterAgentThought✓Agent thinking output and duration
beforeShellExecution✓✓Shell command state used for merge
afterShellExecution✓✓One Shell span with command, cwd, output, and duration
beforeMCPExecution✓MCP tool state used for merge
afterMCPExecution✓One MCP: {tool} span with input, result, and duration
beforeReadFile✓Read file span
afterFileEdit✓✓File edit span
beforeTabFileRead✓Tab read file span
afterTabFileEdit✓Tab file edit span
postToolUse✓✓Generic tool span for non-shell, non-MCP tools
stop✓✓Stop span and state cleanup for the turn

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How Shell and MCP Merge Works

Cursor emits separate before* and after* hook events for shell commands and MCP tools. The Arize AX hooks keep a small disk-backed state entry for the before event, then create a single span on the corresponding after event. That gives you one span with both the input and the output instead of two partial spans. On stop, the hook handler cleans up any saved state for that turn so the state directory does not keep growing over time.

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Reference

For the full list of environment variables, default file paths, and troubleshooting steps, see the Cursor tracing README.

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Fail-Open Behavior

If the tracing hook errors, Cursor continues running. The hook handler always returns the permissive response Cursor expects, so tracing failures do not block the editor or agent workflow.

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Uninstall

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Arize-ai/coding-harness-tracing/main/install.sh | bash -s -- uninstall cursor

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Resources

Arize Coding Harness Tracing

OpenInference

Cursor