Meet Mini-Cursor: Your New AI Co-Pilot, Right in Your Terminal

We’ve all been there. You’re deep in the zone, building something new. You have your editor open, your mind is racing, and then... you hit a snag.

You need to remember the exact syntax for a curl command. You get a cryptic error message from your compiler. You need to spin up a new React project but can't recall the latest Vite incantation. Each time, you break your flow, switch to a browser, sift through Stack Overflow tabs, and try to piece together the solution.

What if you never had to leave your terminal? What if you had a smart assistant right there with you, ready to build, fix, and scaffold on your command?

That’s why I built Mini-Cursor.

(Note: You can replace this with a real screenshot or GIF of your app in action!)

What is Mini-Cursor?

Mini-Cursor is a smart, AI-powered developer assistant that helps you build, fix, and scaffold projects directly from your terminal. Powered by the incredible OpenAI GPT-4.1 API, it acts as your pair programmer, understanding your goals and translating them into concrete actions within your project.

It’s more than just a chatbot; it’s an active participant in your development workflow.

The Secret Sauce: A Workflow You Can Trust

The biggest challenge with AI coding assistants is trust. How do you know it won't run a destructive command or mess up your files? Mini-Cursor is built on a foundation of transparency and control, using a structured, predictable workflow:

PLAN → ACTION → OBSERVE → OUTPUT

This loop is the core of Mini-Cursor's intelligence and what makes it so reliable:

PLAN: Before touching anything, Mini-Cursor outlines its strategy. It thinks step-by-step, just like a human developer would, and tells you exactly what it intends to do.
ACTION: It executes a single, atomic action from its plan. This could be running a terminal command or writing to a file. Crucially, it always asks for your confirmation before executing commands, putting you in the driver's seat.
OBSERVE: This is where the magic happens. After an action, it analyzes the result. Did the command succeed? Was there an error message? It reads the output to understand the current state of the project.
OUTPUT: Based on its observation, it provides real-time feedback, debugging hints, or moves on to the next step in its plan. If it encounters an error, it can use the OBSERVE step to self-correct and propose a fix.

This loop demystifies the AI. You're not just getting a black box solution; you're watching a thought process unfold, making it an incredible tool for both getting things done and learning along the way.

Core Features in Action

Mini-Cursor isn't just about one thing; it's a versatile toolkit designed to supercharge your command line.

🛠️ Intelligent Command Execution

Forget fumbling with man pages. Just tell Mini-Cursor what you want to achieve. "Create a new git repository and make an initial commit." It will figure out the right commands (git init, git add ., git commit), show them to you, and wait for your green light before running them.

📂 Smart File Manipulation

Mini-Cursor can read, write, and append to your project files with context-awareness. You can ask it to "Add a new component called 'Header' to my React app," and it will create Header.jsx with the necessary boilerplate. Or, "Add a new endpoint to my Node.js Express server," and it will intelligently append the route to your main server file.

🐞 Real-Time Debugging Hints

Pasted a cryptic error message into Google one too many times? Now, just let Mini-Cursor see it. By analyzing the output of a failed command (the OBSERVE step), it can often identify the root cause and suggest the exact change or command needed to fix it.

🚀 Effortless Project Scaffolding

This is where Mini-Cursor truly shines. Get from idea to running application in minutes.

React + Vite: Simply ask, "Scaffold a new React app called 'my-cool-app' using Vite." It will handle the entire process, and if it hits a snag (like a dependency issue), it can often auto-fix it.
Python & Node.js: It's not just for the front-end! You can have it build a simple To-Do list app in Python or a basic "Hello, World" server in Node.js, creating the files and installing the dependencies you need.

Who Is This For?

Seasoned Developers who want to automate tedious setup and debugging tasks to spend more time on complex problem-solving.
Junior Developers and Learners who want a safe, interactive way to learn command-line tools and best practices.
Command-Line Aficionados who want to bring the power of modern AI directly into their favorite environment.

Get Started Today!

I built Mini-Cursor because it's the tool I always wanted: an intelligent, reliable assistant that respects my workflow and keeps me focused. It’s built with Python 3.8+ and the powerful OpenAI GPT-4.1 model.

If you're tired of context-switching and ready to supercharge your terminal, I invite you to give Mini-Cursor a try.

Check out the project on GitHub to get started:

https://github.com/mayankraval13/mini-cursor

I'm incredibly excited to see what you build with it. Fork the repo, give it a star if you like it, and please don't hesitate to open an issue with your feedback or ideas!

Happy coding

Local mini-cursor