Cursor Conversation Storage

Two Conversation Systems (NO OVERLAP)

Composer: Global DB - ~1,623 conversations
Copilot Chat: Workspace DBs - ~54 sessions

Storage Locations

Global Database (Composer)

~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb

Table: cursorDiskKV
Keys: composerData:{id} and bubbleId:{id}

Workspace Databases (Copilot)

~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/{id}/state.vscdb

Table: ItemTable
Key: interactive.sessions (array)
Also contains: composer.composerData linking to global

Key Insights

Workspace cursorDiskKV tables are always empty (100% verified)
Workspace links to global via composer.composerData → composerId (99.6% success)
Composer uses conversation array, Copilot uses requests array

Timestamp Limitations

Per-message timestamps are NOT reliably stored by Cursor:

Composer: bubble.createdAt is None for 100% of conversation array bubbles. When present in legacy format, timestamps are batch-assigned (multiple messages share identical timestamps).
Copilot: Only session.creationDate exists. No per-message timestamps at all.

Implementation uses conversation/session-level timestamps only:

Composer: composerData.createdAt and lastUpdatedAt
Copilot: session.creationDate

This means all messages within a session show the same timestamp in the database - this is accurate to what Cursor stores, not a bug.

Message Storage Details

Composer Messages (Global DB)

Conversation structure: composerData:{composerId}
- Contains fullConversationHeadersOnly array with bubble references
Actual messages: bubbleId:{composerId}:{bubbleId}
- type: 1 = User message
- type: 2 = Assistant response
- Each bubble contains: text, codeBlocks, toolResults, capabilities, etc.

Workspace Metadata (Workspace DBs)

Prompts metadata: aiService.prompts (prompt text + commandType)
Generation tracking: aiService.generations (UUID + timestamp + type)
Session UI state: composer.composerData (links to global via composerId)

Quick SQL Queries

-- Get all Composer conversations (global DB)
SELECT value FROM cursorDiskKV WHERE key LIKE 'composerData:%';

-- Get specific conversation messages (global DB)
SELECT value FROM cursorDiskKV WHERE key LIKE 'bubbleId:{composerId}:%';

-- Get Copilot sessions (workspace DB)
SELECT value FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'interactive.sessions';

-- Get workspace metadata (workspace DB)
SELECT value FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'composer.composerData';

-- Get prompt history (workspace DB)
SELECT value FROM ItemTable WHERE key = 'aiService.generations';

Analysis Tools

# Analyze all Cursor databases
python3 scripts/analyze_cursor_workspaces.py

# Check database schemas
python3 scripts/check_all_db_schemas.py

Implementation

See cursor-reader.ts for complete reader supporting both systems.

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