Notepads

Notepads in the Explorer sidebar — create, edit, and manage notes. Optionally migrate existing notepads from Cursor's database.

✨ Features

• Explorer Integration: Adds a "Notepads" section to the Explorer sidebar
• Full Edit Support: Create, edit, rename, and delete notepads
• Drag & Drop Reordering: Easily reorder notes by dragging them to new positions
• Automatic Migration: Seamlessly migrates existing notepads from Cursor's database
• Markdown Editing: Edit notepads as Markdown documents
• JSON Array Storage: Clean, simple array-based storage format
• Fast & Efficient: Uses VS Code's storage API to directly locate workspace data (O(1) lookup)
• Privacy-First: All data stays local - no network access, no telemetry

🚀 How It Works

First Time (Migration)

1. The extension checks if notepads.json exists in the workspace storage directory
2. If not found, reads Cursor's internal state.vscdb database
3. Extracts notepad data and saves it to notepads.json
4. Shows a confirmation message when migration is complete

After Migration

1. All notepad data is read from notepads.json in the workspace storage
2. Click a notepad to open and edit it as a .np file (Markdown format)
3. Changes are automatically saved back to notepads.json
4. Use toolbar buttons to create new notes or refresh the list

Database Storage Locations (for migration only):

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage\{workspace-id}\
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/{workspace-id}/
• Linux: ~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/{workspace-id}/

Notepad File Location:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage\{workspace-id}\notepads.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/{workspace-id}/notepads.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/{workspace-id}/notepads.json

JSON File Structure:

[
  {
    "id": "unique-id-1",
    "name": "My First Note",
    "text": "Note content here..."
  },
  {
    "id": "unique-id-2", 
    "name": "Another Note",
    "text": "More content..."
  }
]

📋 Requirements

• Cursor or VS Code 1.76.0 or higher (for drag & drop support)
• A workspace folder must be open
• The extension works completely offline

⚙️ Settings

• cursorNotepads.verbose: Show verbose notifications for all actions (default: false)

To enable verbose notifications:

{
  "cursorNotepads.verbose": true
}

When enabled, you'll see notifications for:

• Note created
• Note saved
• Note deleted
• Note renamed

Note: Error messages are always shown regardless of this setting.

📝 Usage

Creating a New Note

1. Click the "+" button in the Notepads view toolbar
2. Enter a name for your note (defaults to "New Notepad")
3. The note will be created and appears in the list

Editing a Note

1. Click on any notepad in the list to open it
2. Edit the content in the opened editor (.np file with Markdown syntax highlighting)
3. Save the file with Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+S (macOS)
4. Changes are automatically saved to notepads.json (verbose notifications can be enabled in settings)

Renaming a Note

1. Click the ✏️ (edit) icon next to any notepad
2. Enter the new name in the input box
3. Press Enter or click OK

Deleting a Note

1. Click the 🗑️ (trash) icon next to any notepad
2. Confirm the deletion in the modal dialog

Reordering Notes (Drag & Drop)

1. Click and hold on any notepad item
2. Drag it to the desired position
3. Drop it before another note or at the end of the list
4. Order is automatically saved to the JSON file

🔒 Privacy & Security

• ✅ Reads local files only
• ✅ Never modifies Cursor's internal database (only reads during migration)
• ✅ No network requests
• ✅ No telemetry or data collection
• ✅ Open source - inspect the code yourself!

⚠️ Limitations

• Workspace-specific: Only shows notepads for the currently open workspace
• Single workspace: Uses the first workspace folder if multiple are open
• One-time migration: Database is only read once when notepads.json doesn't exist

🐛 Troubleshooting

No "Notepads" section visible:

• Ensure a workspace folder is open (not just a single file)
• Check if the extension is activated in the Extensions panel

Empty notepad list:

• Your workspace may not have any notepads stored in Cursor's database
• Create a new note using the "+" button in the toolbar
• Check the Output panel (see Troubleshooting tips below) for detailed information

Migration didn't work:

• Ensure the workspace was used in Cursor before and had notepads
• Check the Output panel for migration messages
• You can still create new notes even if migration fails

Troubleshooting tips:

1. Open Output panel: Ctrl+Shift+U (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+U (Mac)
2. Select "Notepads" from the dropdown to view logs
3. Look for [storageUri] ✓ found workspace id to confirm successful detection
4. Enable cursorNotepads.verbose if you want to see all action notifications

📝 License

MIT License - See LICENSE.md for details

💡 Technical Details

• File Format: Notepads are saved as .np files (Notepad format)
• Syntax Highlighting: .np files use Markdown syntax highlighting
• Storage Location: Files are stored in VSCode's workspace storage directory
• Icon: Notepads display with a 📝 notepad icon in the Explorer sidebar

🔗 Links

• Repository: https://github.com/LCH-1/cursor-notepads
• Issues: https://github.com/LCH-1/cursor-notepads/issues
• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md

🙏 Acknowledgments

This extension can migrate notepads from Cursor's deprecated notepad feature; it also works as a standalone notepads app in VS Code and Cursor.