[Powerlevel10k+Oh-My-Zsh] How to Fix Cursor Agent Terminal Output Truncation and Formatting Issues

⚠️ Must-read for Powerlevel10k/Powerlevel9k users!

If you're using Powerlevel10k or Powerlevel9k themes, you're likely experiencing command completion detection issues when working with Cursor AI Assistant in terminal tasks. Cursor's official documentation explicitly mentions this problem, and using the CURSOR_AGENT environment variable is the only official solution.

🐛 Issue Description & Root Cause - Official Documentation

Cursor's official documentation clearly explains the cause of this problem:

"Some shell themes (for example, Powerlevel9k/Powerlevel10k) can interfere with the inline terminal output. If your command output looks truncated or misformatted, disable the theme or switch to a simpler prompt when Agent runs."

Problem Flow:

Cursor AI → run_terminal_cmd → Shell Process → Command Execution
    ↑                                          ↓
Manual Skip ←←←← Hangs Here ←←←← Output + New Prompt

What Actually Happens:

1. ✅ Commands execute successfully
2. ✅ Output is displayed (but may be truncated or misformatted)
3. ✅ New shell prompt appears
4. ❌ Cursor hangs indefinitely at "Running terminal command..."
5. 🖱️ Users must manually click the "Skip" button every time

Root Cause:

• Powerlevel9k/Powerlevel10k interferes with inline terminal output
• Complex prompt rendering conflicts with Cursor's command completion detection mechanism
• Terminal output gets truncated or misformatted, preventing the Agent from parsing completion signals

✅ Solution - Official Cursor Recommendation (Only Solution)

The only official solution provided by Cursor:

"Disable heavy prompts for Agent sessions"
"Use the CURSOR_AGENT environment variable in your shell config to detect when the Agent is running and skip initializing fancy prompts/themes."

Important: The only official solution provided by Cursor is using the CURSOR_AGENT environment variable.

Configuration for Powerlevel10k Users

Add the following code to your .zshrc file:

# ~/.zshrc — disable Powerlevel10k when Cursor Agent runs
if [[ -n "$CURSOR_AGENT" ]]; then
  # Skip theme initialization for better compatibility
else
  [[ -r ~/.p10k.zsh ]] && source ~/.p10k.zsh
fi

🛠️ My Working Solution - Oh-My-Zsh + Powerlevel10k Combination

Problem Encountered: When applying the official solution as-is, environments using oh-my-zsh with Powerlevel10k had issues where themes wouldn't load properly even in regular terminals. All terminals would revert to basic appearance.

Solution Found: Adding the oh-my-zsh initialization line made everything work perfectly.

# Improved configuration for Oh-My-Zsh + Powerlevel10k users
if [[ -n "$CURSOR_AGENT" ]]; then
  # Agent session: Skip theme initialization for better compatibility
else
  # Regular session: Load Oh-My-Zsh and Powerlevel10k normally
  source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
  [[ -r ~/.p10k.zsh ]] && source ~/.p10k.zsh
fi

Key Points:

• The source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh line ensures oh-my-zsh initializes properly
• Agent terminals still have all complex themes disabled
• Regular terminals work perfectly with oh-my-zsh and Powerlevel10k

This method is recommended for Oh-My-Zsh + Powerlevel10k combination users!

Conclusion

Using Cursor's official solution with the CURSOR_AGENT environment variable can perfectly resolve this problem.

This is the only official solution provided by Cursor. (2025.09)

References

• https://docs.cursor.com/en/agent/terminal
• https://github.com/cursor/cursor/issues/3165
• https://github.com/cursor/cursor/issues/3215