Audit IDE dependencies

Workflow to find Node/npm dependency trees shipped with or used by the editor (Cursor first; VS Code–compatible paths included). Most Cursor plugins in plugins/cache are skills/rules only; extensions and some cached plugin monorepos ship real node_modules and lockfiles — pnpm audit / npm audit apply there.

Pair with fix-dependency-security (CVE fixes, SFW installs), audit-allow-builds (postinstall allowlists when you install inside a plugin tree), and upgrade-packages (bumping plugin/extension deps).

What audit can and cannot see

IDE trees are not the project repo. Audits run in ~/.cursor/… (or $CURSOR_HOME). Hardening in the repo’s pnpm-workspace.yaml does not apply there unless you install inside that tree.

Workflow checklist

- [ ] 1. Set CURSOR_HOME (default ~/.cursor)
- [ ] 2. Discover audit targets (lockfiles + bundled node_modules)
- [ ] 3. Run pnpm audit or npm audit per target (exclude fixtures)
- [ ] 4. Triage: runtime extension vs dev-only plugin monorepo
- [ ] 5. Optional: npm view scripts on flagged packages; incident intel
- [ ] 6. Report + recommend disable/update/extension pin
- [ ] 7. Re-audit project repo separately (application root, not IDE extensions dir)

Step 1: Paths (Cursor)

VS Code / VSCodium: same layout under ~/.vscode/extensions or ~/.config/Code/User/… if the user names another IDE.

export CURSOR_HOME="${CURSOR_HOME:-$HOME/.cursor}"

Step 2: Discover targets

Lockfiles (plugin/extension install roots — skip test fixtures and templates):

find "$CURSOR_HOME/plugins/cache" "$CURSOR_HOME/extensions" \
  \( -name pnpm-lock.yaml -o -name package-lock.json -o -name npm-shrinkwrap.json \) \
  2>/dev/null | rg -v '/test/|/tests/|/fixtures/|/templates/'

Bundled node_modules without a root lockfile (audit via nearest lockfile or note manual review):

find "$CURSOR_HOME/extensions" -maxdepth 2 -type d -name node_modules 2>/dev/null

Plugins with no lockfile (e.g. svelte, linear, runlayer — only skills/ / rules/): no audit run; list as “non-npm surface”.

Step 3: Run audit per target

For each discovered lockfile directory DIR:

cd "$DIR"

Prefer read-only audit; do not pnpm install / npm ci in plugin caches unless the user wants deps installed. Large plugin monorepos (e.g. cached shadcn UI repo) may report many advisories in dev/test subtrees that never run inside the IDE — triage in Step 4.

Project repo (separate): from the user’s workspace root, run the same commands as fix-dependency-security (pnpm audit, sfw pnpm install).

Step 4: Triage findings

Extensions without a lockfile: record extension id + version from package.json; security = publisher trust + update channel, not audit.

Step 5: Beyond CVE audit (optional)

When audit is clean but an IDE package was in the news, or has install scripts:

npm view <package>@<version> scripts version --json

Install or refresh plugin deps only with SFW:

sfw pnpm install    # inside plugin dir with pnpm-lock.yaml
sfw npm ci           # inside extension dir with package-lock.json

Re-run audit-allow-builds if you maintain allowBuilds in a plugin’s pnpm-workspace.yaml.

Step 6: Report template

Also state project repo audit result if run in the same session.

Step 7: Remediation (user-facing)

1. Cursor → Extensions: update or disable affected extension.
2. Cursor → Plugins: remove unused plugins; re-add to pull a fresh cache hash.
3. Clear stale cache (optional): remove specific plugins/cache/.../<hash>/ dir after disabling the plugin.
4. Do not copy vulnerable plugin node_modules into project repos.
5. Re-run this skill after Cursor updates or new plugin installs.

Anti-patterns

• Assuming the application repo's pnpm audit covers Cursor extensions
• Running pnpm install in every plugin cache “to fix” audit noise without user approval
• Auditing test/fixtures/** lockfiles inside plugin monorepos as if they were IDE runtime
• Treating MCP JSON descriptors under projects/*/mcps/ as npm packages
• Ignoring extensions with bundled node_modules but no lockfile (no audit possible — use publisher/version review)

Related skills

• project-editor-profile — per-repo extension recommendations and unwanted list to limit editor attack surface
• fix-dependency-security — project repo CVEs, SFW, pnpm-workspace.yaml policy
• audit-allow-builds — lifecycle scripts when installing in a plugin tree
• upgrade-packages — upgrading deps in repos you control (not Cursor cache)

References

• pnpm audit
• npm audit
• Cursor plugins (discovery UI)
• pnpm supply-chain security