Cursor wrote the plan.Check it before it builds.

Plan Mode makes Cursor's agent research your project and write a plan first. Here is where the plan goes, and how to read it, comment on it and check the agent's fixes in DotMD.

macOS 14 or later. Reading is free; editing and reviews are one payment.

Quick answer

Press Shift+Tab in the Agent input to switch to Plan Mode. Cursor saves plans in your home folder by default; Save to workspace moves a plan into the project, where you and your team can find it. Open the project in DotMD to read the plan rendered, comment on the steps you want changed, and have Cursor's agent fix them over MCP.

What Cursor's Plan Mode does

In Plan Mode the agent does not start by editing files. It researches your codebase, asks you questions where the request is unclear, and writes a plan that you can edit before anything is built. You switch to it with Shift+Tab in the Agent input.

The plan is the point where a wrong assumption is cheapest to fix. Reading it carefully takes a few minutes; a wrong plan built into code takes much longer to undo.

Where Cursor keeps the plan

By default Cursor saves plans as Markdown files in your home folder. Cursor's documentation says "home directory" and does not give the exact path, so the safest way to know where a plan is, is to use Save to workspace.

Save to workspace puts the plan inside the project. That is the setting to prefer: the plan sits next to the code, you and your team can find it, and it can be committed like any other file.

Read and comment on the plan in DotMD

The steps are the same as for any plan an agent writes.

  1. Add the folder

    Press ⌘O and choose the project folder. A plan saved to the workspace appears in the sidebar, rendered with its headings, lists, tables and diagrams.

  2. Select a step and comment

    Select the passage and press ⌥⌘M. Write what should change. Comments stay tied to their lines and are kept by DotMD, not in the plan file.

  3. Hand them to the agent

    In Cursor's chat write: "Go through my comments in DotMD." The agent reads them, fixes the plan and sends each comment back with a note.

Connect Cursor once

Cursor talks to DotMD over MCP. Turn the server on in DotMD under Settings → MCP, then add this to Cursor's ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dotmd": { "type": "http", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8089/mcp" }
  }
}

The server listens on your Mac only. The Cursor guide has the full setup, including Visual Studio Code.

Check what the agent changed

After the agent fixes your comments, each fix is shown in the plan next to the comment it answers: the old text in red, the new text in green. Accept the good ones, Reopen the rest with a note on why. DotMD also lists changes nobody asked for under Other changes, which is where an agent's surprises hide. When nothing is left to change, Approve.

More on this loop: Reviewing changes.

What to look for in a plan

A plan is easy to nod through. Three questions make the read worth it:

  • Is anything missing? Tests, a migration, an update to the docs. Agents tend to plan the code and forget what surrounds it.
  • Is the order right? A step that depends on a later one is a bug in the plan.
  • Is the scope right? Look for files or areas you did not ask the agent to touch, and comment on them.

Comment on each one on the line it concerns. A comment that says what to change works better than "this is wrong", because the agent sees only your comments and the file, not your screen.

Questions about Cursor plans

Where does Cursor save plans?

In your home folder until you choose Save to workspace, which puts the plan in the project.

Can I edit a Cursor plan by hand?

Yes, it is a Markdown file. DotMD Editor edits it with a live preview and writes every change straight to the file.

Does Cursor need DotMD to plan?

No. DotMD is where you read and comment; Cursor plans as it always does.

Is it free?

Reading a plan in DotMD is free. Comments and reviews with the agent need DotMD Reviewer; see pricing.

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