Cursor Privacy Mode and Security: What Every Professional Developer Needs to Know

Using AI tools on proprietary code raises legitimate security questions. Cursor has answers, but you need to configure them correctly. Here is the complete guide to privacy, security and using Cursor responsibly on sensitive work.

If you write code for a living, you almost certainly work with something sensitive: proprietary algorithms, customer data, regulated information, trade secrets. Using an AI tool that sends code to external servers raises real concerns. Cursor provides the controls to use it responsibly on sensitive work, but only if you understand and configure them. This guide covers what you need to know.

Privacy Mode: The Core Control

Privacy Mode is the single most important security setting. When enabled, it disables code retention entirely: your code is never stored on Cursor's servers and never used to train models. For anyone working with proprietary or regulated code, this is effectively mandatory. It is available on the Pro tier and above, and enabling it should be the first thing you do if your work involves anything confidential.

Telemetry Is Separate

Telemetry covers usage analytics: which features you use, error reports, performance metrics. Critically, it does not include code content. It is also controlled separately from Privacy Mode, so you can disable analytics independently if you prefer minimal data sharing even beyond the code-retention guarantee. Understanding that these are distinct settings helps you configure exactly the level of sharing you are comfortable with.

Controlling What Gets Indexed

The .cursorignore file does more than speed up indexing; it is a security tool. Use it to exclude secrets, credential files, and any regulated data from the codebase index. Files matched by .cursorignore are not indexed and not sent for AI processing. Treating .cursorignore as part of your security configuration, not just a performance optimisation, prevents sensitive files from entering the AI pipeline at all.

MCP Server Security

Every MCP server you install runs with your permissions and can access whatever you grant it. This is powerful but demands caution. Review the code of any MCP server before installing, especially from unknown sources. Use credentials scoped to the minimum necessary permissions. An MCP server with broad database access or filesystem reach is a meaningful expansion of your attack surface, so treat installation as a security decision, not just a convenience.

Team and Enterprise Controls

For organisations, Team accounts add SSO, centralised user management and access policies. These let security teams enforce consistent configurations across all developers rather than relying on each individual to set up Privacy Mode correctly. Enterprise tiers add further controls and custom contracts. If your organisation handles sensitive data at scale, these administrative controls are how you ensure compliance across the whole team rather than hoping everyone configures their own settings properly.

A Responsible Default Setup

For professional work, a sensible baseline: enable Privacy Mode, configure .cursorignore to exclude all secrets and regulated data, review every MCP server before installing, and on teams, enforce these through Team account controls. This setup lets you capture Cursor's productivity benefits while keeping sensitive code and data appropriately protected.