Demo Common Terminal Commands

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to generate and execute common terminal commands using Cursor AI. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, Cursor AI lets you describe tasks in plain English and receive the correct CLI syntax for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Activating Cursor AI in Your Shell

Press Command+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) to open the Cursor AI prompt. Then type your instruction in natural language. Cursor AI will suggest the corresponding shell command.

1. Creating a Directory

English Prompt

create a new directory called project files

Generated Command

mkdir "project files"

Execution

venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % mkdir "project files"

2. Creating Multiple Files

English Prompt

create five blank text files named test1.txt through test5.txt in project files

Generated Command

touch "project files/test1.txt" "project files/test2.txt" "project files/test3.txt" "project files/test4.txt" "project files/test5.txt"

Execution

venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % touch "project files/test1.txt" "project files/test2.txt" "project files/test3.txt" "project files/test4.txt" "project files/test5.txt"

3. Moving Files into a Subdirectory

English Prompt

create a directory named test and move all .txt files from project files into test

Generated Commands

mkdir test
mv "project files/"*.txt test/

Execution

venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % mkdir test
venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % mv "project files/"*.txt test/

4. Displaying Date and Time

To display the current system date and time:

venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % date

5. Viewing System Resource Usage

English Prompt

display system resource usage

Generated Command

top

Execution

venvjeremy@MACSTUDIO KodeKloudTaskManager % top

Sample output:

Processes: 809 total, 4 running, 805 sleeping, 5693 threads
Load Avg: 4.08, 3.48, 3.20  CPU usage: 5.48% user, 6.29% sys, 88.22% idle
MemRegions: 764871 total, 226M resident, 1282M private, 7780M shared
PhysMem: 67G used (3369M wired), 60G unused

Press Ctrl+C to exit top.

6. Updating All Python Packages

English Prompt

update all python packages

Cursor AI may suggest:

pip install --upgrade pip && \
pip list --outdated --format=freeze | \
grep -v '^\-e' | cut -d= -f1 | xargs -n1 pip install -U

If you encounter:

ERROR: List format 'freeze' cannot be used with the --outdated option.

Refine your prompt:

update all python packages without using freeze format

Updated Commands

pip install --upgrade pip
pip list --outdated --format=columns | \
tail -n +3 | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -n1 pip install -U

7. Showing Recent Git Commits

English Prompt

show the last five git commits

Generated Command

git log -5 --oneline

In a Git repository, this will list the five most recent commits. Outside a repo, you’ll see:

fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git

Command Reference Table

Links and References

• Cursor AI Documentation
• GNU Coreutils (mkdir, mv, touch)
• pip User Guide
• Git Basics

With Cursor AI, managing your shell tasks is faster and more intuitive—just ask in plain English!