How to use Notepads in Cursor

Notepads is a relatively new feature that got introduced in the recent Cursor 0.41 (September 2024). When I first read about the feature, I got pretty excited. Specifying context is arguably the most important part of using Cursor effectively.

I’ve always felt it cumbersome to have to manually @mention the whole list of files needed to work in a particular area of my project. It’s slow and it’s prone to error—sometimes I just forget to mentino a file or two and it throws everything off.

The promise of Notepads is that you can pre-specify a context (like multiple files along with extra instructions) and then just @mention the notepad going forward instead. For example, if I’m working in my Rails app, I can create a Notepad for all of the relevant controller, model, views, and javascript files as a shortcut for working in an area.

I’m still playing with the feature, but I’m hopeful that it will be a big unlock in effeciency for my workflow.

The main problem I found is that, for some reason, it’s a huge pain in the ass to figure out how to use Notepads. As of this writing, I couldn’t find anything in the Cursor docs, the Cursor subreddit, or a cursory Google search on how to do it.

So here’s how to use Notepads, at least as of Cursor 0.42:

1. Open Composer (Cmd+I)
2. Click the “Open control panel” icon in the top left of the Composer window (looks like a dial)
3. In the left sidebar of the Composer control panel, see the “Notepad” section.
4. Press (+) to create a new Notepad
5. Type whatever context you want into the Notepad, including @mention for files
6. Exit out of the control panel
7. Now, you should be able to @mention the notepad you just created in places like the chat sidebar

Enjoy!