Cursor Cloud Agents Without a Repo: Start From Scratch, Then Save It as a Repo Afterwards

If the thing stopping you from trying Cursor’s cloud agents was “I need a repo connected first,” that gate is gone. Per Cursor’s changelog (2026-08-27 entry, verified by us on 2026-09-09), Cloud Agents no longer require a connected GitHub or other third-party SCM provider to get started.

1. Four steps, blank page to shareable project

Step 1: Start from scratch. Select Start from scratch in the repo picker, then prompt the agent. Cursor creates an Origin repo for you in the background.

Step 2: Turn it into a real repo when you are ready. Once the agent’s build is to your liking, click Create repo to save your work in an Origin repo. Choose a custom name or one of the suggested ones, then set the visibility to private or internal. Cursor’s wording: you get a fully scaffolded Origin repo, ready to share or keep building on.

Step 3: Preview live in the browser. Cursor port-forwards your cloud agent’s live environment straight to your browser, so you can preview it and use tools like design mode.

Step 4: Publish. Connect a Vercel account and hit publish to get a live URL for what you built. Cursor states explicitly: a Vercel account is required to use the publish feature.

Your repo then lives under the Codebase tab.

2. Who benefits most

1. Anyone evaluating before adopting — no GitHub org, permissions, and OAuth setup just to try a tool.
2. One-off prototypes and pitches — build a demo for a client, decide afterwards whether it becomes a real project.
3. Anyone who does not want half-finished work in company version control — visibility can be private or internal until it takes shape.

3. Three things to know before you rely on it

• The result lives in a Cursor Origin repo, not your GitHub. That is convenience and lock-in at once; the changelog entry does not describe a migration path, so we log that as unverified.
• Publishing is tied to Vercel. No Vercel account, no one-click publish. Related: Vercel made protecting all deployments including production domains free on every plan as of 2026-09-09, which suits internal demos — see Vercel made production deployment protection free.
• Cloud agent usage and billing are not covered in this entry. For cost, you need the pricing page — and we have verified that Cursor’s pricing page publishes no quota figures or overage rates at all: Cursor publishes no quota numbers — how to measure your own.

4. Read it with the neighbouring updates

Cursor’s recent direction is consistent: remove prerequisites from starting, and hand over the choice of where execution happens.

• 2026-09-02: self-hosted machines keep tool execution entirely inside your own network, with computer use supported on Linux and Mac — see Cursor self-hosted machines and computer use.
• Same batch: Cloud Agents can execute on infrastructure you already use, with Cursor naming AWS Lambda, Coder, Cloudflare, Daytona, Modal, Namespace, Vercel, and E2B. The Vercel Sandbox case: Cursor Cloud Agents can run in Vercel Sandbox.

Put together, it reads as one sentence: Cursor wants neither “getting started” nor “where it runs” to be a blocker — no repo to begin, and execution either on someone else’s cloud or on your own hardware.

Plan and pricing status: Cursor tool profile.

Sources

• Cursor Changelog, “Start from scratch, without a repo,” 2026-08-27: https://cursor.com/changelog
• Cursor Changelog, “Self-hosted machines,” 2026-09-02: https://cursor.com/changelog

Last verified: 2026-09-09