Quick notes to make a Cursor AppImage launchable from your desktop menus and include a proper icon.

This example uses Cursor 1.6.27; adjust the paths/versions for your setup.

• 1) Make the AppImage executable
• 2) Create the desktop file
• 3) Optional: extract an icon from the AppImage
• 4) (Optional) Update desktop database / cache
• Notes
• 1) Make the AppImage executable
• 2) Create the desktop entry

1) Make the AppImage executable

chmod +x /home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/Cursor-1.6.27-x86_64.AppImage

2) Create the desktop file

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cat > ~/.local/share/applications/cursor.desktop <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Cursor 1.6.27
Comment=Run Cursor AppImage
Exec=/home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/Cursor-1.6.27-x86_64.AppImage --no-sandbox %U
Icon=/home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/cursor.png
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;Development;
StartupWMClass=Cursor
EOF
chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/cursor.desktop

3) Optional: extract an icon from the AppImage

Install an icon next to the AppImage so the Icon= line resolves:

# extract AppImage contents
/home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/Cursor-1.6.27-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract

# try to find a suitable icon inside the extracted tree
ICON_PATH=$(find squashfs-root -type f \( -iname '*cursor*.png' -o -iname '*cursor*.svg' \) | head -n1)

# if found, copy it to /home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/cursor.png
if [ -n "$ICON_PATH" ]; then
  cp "$ICON_PATH" /home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/cursor.png
else
  echo "No obvious icon found inside AppImage; you can set any png/svg at /home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/cursor.png"
fi

# clean up extracted tree
rm -rf squashfs-root

4) (Optional) Update desktop database / cache

Some environments pick up the new desktop entry immediately; others need a refresh:

# GNOME / Freedesktop
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications 2>/dev/null || true

# KDE / icon cache (varies by distro)
xdg-desktop-menu forceupdate 2>/dev/null || true

Notes

• Replace <user_name> with your actual username.
• If your distro restricts sandboxing, keep --no-sandbox as shown; otherwise remove it.
• You can place the icon anywhere; keeping it next to the AppImage is convenient.

title: “Cursor AppImage desktop entry on Linux” date: 2025-09-19 permalink: /posts/2025/09/cursor_appimage_desktop_entry/ categories: tech tags: [linux, appimage, desktop-entry, cursor] —

Set up a desktop launcher for Cursor AppImage on Linux. This creates a .desktop file and optionally extracts an icon so it shows up in your app menu.

• TOC

1) Make the AppImage executable

chmod +x /home/<user_name>/apps/cursor/Cursor-1.6.27-x86_64.AppImage

2) Create the desktop entry

```bash mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications cat > ~/.local/share/applications/cursor.desktop «‘EOF’ [Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Type=Application Name=Cursor 1.6.27 Comment=Run Cursor AppImage Exec=/home//apps/cursor/Cursor-1.6.27-x86_64.AppImage --no-sandbox %U Icon=/home//apps/cursor/cursor.png Terminal=false Categories=Utility;Development; StartupWMClass=Cursor