Using Cursor IDE to analyze a Particle project

Developer Tools Particle Workbench
1

I would like to use the Cursor IDE to analyze a particle workbench project.

Unfortunately, Particle workbench is not compatible with Cursor because it relies on the C/C++ extension (aka the C_Cpp extension), and that extension is a proprietary Microsoft extension that is blocked from being used in the Cursor IDE.

I am OK with continuing to compile in Visual Studio, but I was hoping to analyze the project and do some development tasks using Cursor.

In order to accomplish that I have tried:

  • disabled the C_Cpp extension and Workbench Core extensions
  • installed the clangd extension
  • Asked the Cursor ai agent to make the clangd linter stop reporting errors, using the C_Cpp extension configuration as a guide

This didn’t quite work. I can’t seem to get the Particle OS source code files to be recognized by the linter.

For example I’ll get linting errors that Particle.h cannot be found.

  • Is there any documentation or advice about how to configure C_Cpp extension alternatives to be able to analyze a Particle Project with Workbench Core disabled?
  • How does Workbench Core interact with the C_Cpp extension behind the scenes, and how can I replicate that behavior using clangd linter?
2

Hey jaza_tom

I’m onboard with the question! I do use Cursor IDE with Particle code bases, but I didn’t install the plugin because I am alas, addicted to the command line…

I’ll check with the team and loop back!

Thanks

Nick.

3

Thanks for looking into this.

Out of curiosity, is there any plan to make a fully Cursor-Compatible version of Particle Workbench (i.e. remove the Microsoft C/C++ extension dependency)?

I feel like that would be a smart move in order to allow Particle workbench to work on other vs code derivatives like cursor as the AI firmware development world continues to develop.

4

Any updates here?

I think an alternative could be to just use Claude Code from within VS Code?