Exploring Cursor AI on FreeBSD: A Developer's Perspective and Installation Guide (and a note on local models)

As a long-time skeptic of AI-assisted coding tools and someone who values fully understanding every line of code, I approached Cursor AI with considerable hesitation. Like many, I had dismissed it as another overhyped productivity gadget that generates unusable boilerplate code. And yet - after experimenting with Cursor for a few days - I must admit: it’s surprisingly useful. I actually personally also use it at work - mostly to have a second pair of eyes available taking a look over your code or actually during architecture stage to discuss some weird design ideas upfront with a digital partner.

In this post, I’ll provide an overview of what Cursor does well (and where caution is warranted), especially from the perspective of a developer who requires full control. Then, I’ll walk you through how to get Cursor running on an unsupported platform that comprises my main desktop operating system: FreeBSD.

In the end we will look at Kilo-Code which allows one to use different backends without Cursors online services since European users often see challenges buying the subscriptions (unfortunately - if it works this is of course the recommended way). Those backends can either be API providers like OpenAI or Anthropic - or even your local models ran in ollama.

• What is Cursor?
  • Why Use With Caution?
• Installing Cursor on FreeBSD (with Linux compatibility layer)
  • Download
  • Configure the Linux compatibility modules dynamic linker
  • Install required Linux libraries
• Running the application
  • Start the Linux compatibility layer
  • Launch Cursor
• Pitfalls and Workarounds
• Final Notes
• Conclusion

What is Cursor?

Cursor is a VS Code-based editor that integrates a powerful AI assistant for programming tasks. Its features include:

• Project scaffolding and architecture planning
• Implementation of well-described methods and modules
• Inline code explanations and documentation
• Smart refactoring and quick fix suggestions
• Integration with terminal commands and custom scripting (MCP commands)

For small- to medium-scale one-shot projects - especially in Python or ANSI C - Cursor significantly accelerates routine tasks, provided you actively supervise, understand, and guide the process.

Why Use With Caution?

• You still need to read and understand everything. Never trust auto-generated code blindly. Cursor is helpful, but it’s not perfect - and can produce flawed logic or broken assumptions.
• Beginners beware. Without foundational knowledge, users may misinterpret outputs or fail to notice subtle bugs or design flaws.
• Proprietary stack. Cursor is closed-source and cloud-dependent. The inference backend, integration APIs, and user interaction pipelines run on remote infrastructure. You have to trust their data handling policy.
• Security risk. Since Cursor can run console commands and (in the paid version) access files and services, you should never expose sensitive codebases to it without a clear threat model and understanding of sandboxing.

That said, for the well-informed developer, Cursor can boost productivity massively. Especially since it can just ask upfront any potentially dangerous actions.

Installing Cursor on FreeBSD (with Linux compatibility layer)

Here’s how I got Cursor running on FreeBSD using the Linuxulator and Rocky Linux 9 compatibility packages.

Download

First Download Cursor Linux AppImage. Adapt the URL to fetch the correction version, the file name is here only for illustration purposes.

# fetch https://cursor.com/linux/1.2.4/Cursor-1.2.4-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x Cursor-1.2.4-x86_64.AppImage
./Cursor-1.2.4-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract

Configure the Linux compatibility modules dynamic linker

Edit /compat/linux/etc/ld.so.conf and prepend the path of the extracted AppImage squashfs-root directory to load the libraries packed inside the AppImage (there is for sure a more elegant way, this is a quick hack):

/home/youruser/cursor/squashfs-root
include ld.so.conf.d/*.conf

Then update:

sudo /compat/linux/sbin/ldconfig

Install required Linux libraries

You’ll need the following runtime packages:

sudo pkg install linux-rl9-alsa-lib linux-rl9-atk linux-rl9-at-spi2-core \
  linux-rl9-avahi-libs linux-rl9-cairo linux-rl9-cups-libs linux-rl9-dbus-libs \
  linux-rl9-dri linux-rl9-expat linux-rl9-fontconfig linux-rl9-freetype \
  linux-rl9-gnutls linux-rl9-gtk3 linux-rl9-harfbuzz linux-rl9-icu linux-rl9-libdrm \
  linux-rl9-libglvnd linux-rl9-libxml2 linux-rl9-nspr linux-rl9-nss linux-rl9-pango \
  linux-rl9-systemd-libs linux-rl9-wayland linux_base-rl9

Running the application

Start the Linux compatibility layer

If it’s not already running start the linux compatibility layer. Note that this shell script does more than just loading the kernel modules - doing the kldload yourself and not mounting filesystems will not work.

sudo service linux onestart

Launch Cursor

./squashfs-root/usr/bin/cursor --no-sandbox

The --no-sandbox parameter is often necessary due to AppImage restrictions and sandboxing incompatibilities.

Pitfalls and Workarounds

Of course, there are also real downsides to using Cursor - especially in the free tier. The number of agent calls is extremely limited, and once you’ve hit the quota, you’re likely to feel tempted to subscribe to Cursor Pro.

Unfortunately, many European credit cards are at the moment of writing rejected by Stripe during checkout with generic errors like “card has been rejected”. There’s no PayPal, EPS or Amazon Pay alternative - making the service practically inaccessible for many users in Europe. This has been a known issue discussed in their forums for a long time (you usually get the suggestion of contacting their support, then have to wait a couple of days and get the suggestion of checking if your card has been locked or to contact your bank). Even users whose cards worked once or twice often face random rejections later, likely due to opaque risk scoring systems or arbitrary blocks by payment processors - this is common for credit cards when used internationally unfortunately. Worse, local banks are usually unable or unwilling to help, as the refusal occurs within Stripe, Cursor’s backend or some payment provider on the route in between (banks often claim they don’t even see the payment requests so they cannot decline them while Cursors provider does not see any problems on their side according to their statements).

But there is a workaround: the Kilo-Code extension, which you can use both inside Cursor and in standard VS Code. It offers many of the same AI coding features and supports multiple backends:

• Use a Kilo-Code account (some free usage, subscriptions also available - but again, not mandatory).
• Or use your own API keys for platforms like:
  • OpenAI (e.g., GPT-4o, GPT-4.1)
  • Anthropic (e.g., Claude 3 Sonnet)
  • Local Ollama servers if you run LLMs on your own hardware

These platforms are pay-as-you-go (or the local one even free in case you own proper hardware), not flat subscriptions. You add credit (which may expire after a year), optionally enable auto-reload, and then only pay per API call. This can be cheaper, more transparent, and more flexible than a fixed monthly rate—especially for hobbyists or occasional use.

The Kilo-Code extension lets you assign different backends to different tasks, supports prompt templating, and integrates seamlessly with your favorite editor. In many ways, it offers even more flexibility and power than the built-in Cursor agent system. It is a little bit harder to configure than Cursor and does not sync it’s settings in a flexible way (I personally have to enter the API keys for every new project again for example even when exporting the settings into a JSON file upfront and loading them for the next project again).

Final Notes

• If AppImage extraction or execution fails, check that the Linux compatibility layer is properly started using service linux onestart. Merely loading the kernel modules is not sufficient, as /proc and other subsystems may remain unavailable.
• If you are able to use the Cursor subscription I personally think it’s the recommended way instead of trying to circumvent this with Kilo-Code. It offers a one-shot subscription for a bunch of backend models and is fully integrated without further configuration. It just works. If payment works.

Conclusion

Cursor surprised me. While not a replacement for serious development skills, it offers real value when treated as a tool - not a crutch. You still need to think, read, and reason deeply. But for accelerating low-level implementation or exploring unfamiliar libraries, it’s excellent. It’s also a very valuable tool when dealing with complex libraries like Python’s Matplotlib that offer a myriad of parameters - especially when you don’t have immediate security concerns. In such cases, Cursor can ingest and remember documentation contextually, making exploration and usage much more fluid. Of course, one should still double-check the documentation, but it definitely streamlines the process.

And now, it even runs on FreeBSD.

This article is tagged:

• Programming
• Tutorial
• Basics
• Artificial intelligence
• LLM
• Vibe coding