The Cursor workbench
The workbench is a folder you download once and keep. Opened with Cursor, it turns the agent into your Looky guide: it installs the tools, connects the folder to your instance, and then works with you day to day — pulling workspaces, authoring content, validating and publishing — explaining each step in plain language. No terminal, Python or git knowledge required.
Works on Cursor's free plan. Free usage has limits, and this workbench is built to live with them: it saves your progress as it goes, and it can switch to a mode where you run the commands in your terminal — which costs no agent usage at all.
Prefer git? git clone https://github.com/paranoid-software/looky-cursor works too, and updates arrive via git pull.
Before you start
- Cursor installed and signed in — the free plan is enough to get through this whole guide.
- Access to your Looky instance: an invitation to an account, as a developer if you'll publish content.
- Windows, macOS or Linux — the workbench handles each one's quirks.
Get going in three steps
- Download and extract the ZIP wherever you keep your documents.
- Rename the folder after your instance — for example
my-lookyformy.looky.studio. One folder per instance; several instances, several folders. - Open the folder in Cursor (File → Open Folder), open the agent chat and type: "Help me set up this looky workbench from scratch."
The agent asks how you prefer to work and takes it from there. The verification code for signing in arrives in your email — that, choosing names, and approving what gets published are the only things it will ever need from you.
Two ways of working — you choose, and can switch anytime
Guide mode
You type, it teaches
The agent dictates each command, explains what it does in one line, and you run it in your terminal. You learn to drive Looky yourself — and because you're the one running things, it uses no agent quota.
Do-it mode
It runs, you approve
The agent executes everything itself and narrates. You review, decide and approve — especially anything that goes live.
If you run out of free usage
Nothing is lost. Your work is plain files in your folder, and anything already published lives safely in your Looky instance.
- Switch to guide mode and keep going on your own terminal — the agent can write down the next command before it stops.
- Come back later. The workbench keeps a short progress note, so the next session picks up where you left off instead of starting over.
Daily life in the workbench
Creating content is just conversation. "Make me a bar chart of sales by month", "a dashboard for the fulfillment team with these three KPIs" — the agent authors it, validates it, and shows you. For the mechanical operations, type / in the chat and pick one:
/setup— first-time setup, or repairing anything missing/connect— sign in / reconnect to your instance/workspaces— see and switch where you're working/pull— bring a workspace's content to your folder/create-workspace— start a brand-new workspace/validate— check everything before publishing/publish— review and publish, always with your explicit approval/mode— switch between guide mode and do-it mode/update-workbench— update the workbench itself to the latest version
What keeps you safe
- Nothing goes live without your yes. Publishing always ends in an explicit question, and the instance validates content before writing anything.
- Credentials stay out of reach. The workbench never touches data-source credentials or deploys source settings — that remains with your account's developer or owner.
- Everything is contained. The tools install inside the folder; your computer's setup is left alone. Deleting the folder deletes everything local (your published content lives in your instance — pull it again anytime).
See the change with your own eyes: after each publish, open your Looky in the browser and refresh. That loop — ask, publish, look — is the whole workflow.