Cursor
Commercial AI coding editor and agent with local editing, cloud/background-agent modes, and selectable model providers.
Score calculation
(5 + 2) ÷ 2 = 3.5
2 of six dimensions rated. Unrated dimensions and BDS status are excluded.
Full scoring method ↗Setup details
Privacy and retention depend on Privacy Mode, selected provider, and background-agent use.
Energy
↑Cursor does not publish service-specific energy or water data; the model and serving provider determine most inference impact.
Reasoning & sources
Cursor lets users provide API keys for supported providers, while specialized features can continue to use Cursor’s built-in models. Those different routes make the energy boundary feature-specific, and the docs contain no task-level impact data. Check which provider serves each feature and compare its location and energy disclosure before choosing a plan.
No per-task electricity, water, or emissions data, serving-region breakdown, or lifecycle assessment was found for the harness.
Training rights
↑Cursor is a harness that connects to models; its sources do not establish a complete rights record for the training data of every model it can use.
Reasoning & sources
Cursor lets users bring provider API keys for supported chat models, but that sends requests to a remote provider and does not reveal the model’s training corpus. Privacy Mode governs Cursor handling; it cannot establish the provider’s rights practices. Select a model/provider with a clear training-data and opt-out policy before using private code.
The provider and exact model vary by configuration; no complete rights ledger can be inferred from the harness license or provider list.
Privacy
↑Cursor’s Privacy Mode and its cloud background-agent path handle code differently.
Reasoning & sources
Privacy Mode offers controls for standard requests, but background agents use cloud VMs and can retain task data separately. Check the mode and provider for each workflow; BYOK alone does not mean the editor never receives the content.
Plan, selected model/provider, enabled features, and deployment mode can change this assessment.
Openness
↑Published model choice does not make the closed commercial editor open.
Reasoning & sources
Cursor’s documentation describes a commercial editor and model choices but does not publish the editor under an open-source license. Choosing a different model or API route changes inference, not whether the editor implementation can be inspected. Assess the client separately from its providers.
This score covers the harness/editor source only; hosted services, models, data, or enterprise features may remain proprietary.
Worker treatment
↑Anysphere’s product privacy documentation does not describe its employees, suppliers, or model-data workers in enough detail to assess labor conditions.
Reasoning & sources
The privacy and product pages reviewed for Cursor do not describe Anysphere’s supplier workforce or data-labeling conditions. That leaves a real information gap, not proof that workers are treated poorly. Ask Anysphere which model providers and data-work vendors support each feature and what independent worker protections apply.
Current worker pay, working conditions, subcontracting, safety provisions, and grievance outcomes are not established for this product’s full service chain.
Government & military
↑No harness-specific defense deployment was established in the sources reviewed; provider and parent-company records need separate attribution.
Reasoning & sources
The reviewed sources do not name Cursor in a defense or surveillance contract. Cursor can call several model providers, so a service relationship at OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic would belong to that provider unless Cursor’s own deployment is shown. Check the provider and any enterprise integrations actually enabled; silence in this review is not a clean record.
No public evidence in the reviewed material names this harness in a defense workload; absence in this review does not establish absence of indirect use.
BDS status
↑We did not find Anysphere among the named targets in the two official BNC campaign lists. This is a limited list check, not BDS approval.
Reasoning & sources
Anysphere is not a named target in the checked lists, but BDS uses selective campaigns, so absence cannot establish a clean record. Check the model and host this tool connects to as well as the company providing the tool.
This review covers the named targets in the BNC consumer/pressure guide and No Tech campaign, not every BDS campaign, local group, investment or supplier. Lists and ownership can change. A company’s absence from these lists is not an endorsement or proof that it has no relevant relationships.