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Workflow with Cursor (without Claude)

Clipboard icons

Commands and prompts on this page use fenced blocks with a copy button (top-right). Click to copy the full text for Terminal, Claude, or Cursor.

Use Cursor as your editor for LXPack courses when you want a modern IDE — file tree, syntax highlighting, integrated Terminal — but you do not use Claude (no Claude subscription, no Agent/Chat, or your organization disables AI in the editor).

You author content yourself (or paste from Word, Storyline exports, SME documents). The lxpack commands are the same as every other workflow.

Not the same as Claude Code

Workflow with Claude Code is for teams that use Cursor + Claude to edit files. This guide is for Cursor only — you are the author; Cursor is your text editor.

Who this track fits

You… This track works well
Prefer an IDE over Notepad/TextEdit Yes
Write your own Markdown and YAML Yes
Use SME copy-paste or legacy tool exports Yes
Want AI to draft lessons Use Claude Design or Claude Code instead
Never want to open Terminal Use a simple editor + external Terminal; Cursor is optional

What you need

You do not need a Claude account or to enable Cursor’s AI features.

One-time Cursor setup

1. Install Cursor

Download from cursor.com and install like any desktop app.

2. Turn off AI (optional)

If your policy requires no AI in the editor:

  • Avoid Chat, Composer, and Agent panels.
  • In Settings, you can disable or ignore AI-related features; authoring still works with the file editor and Terminal only.

You are using Cursor the same way many people use VS Code: files + Terminal.

3. Helpful extensions (optional)

Search Extensions in Cursor (Cmd+Shift+X / Ctrl+Shift+X):

Extension Why
YAML (Red Hat) Highlights and errors in course.yaml and assessments/*.yaml
Markdown All in One Preview and shortcuts for lessons/*.md
HTML CSS Support Easier editing of interactions/*/index.html

Extensions are optional; LXPack does not require them.

Open your course

lxpack init onboarding-2026
lxpack init onboarding-2026
cd onboarding-2026
cursor .

cursor . opens the current folder as the workspace. You should see:

onboarding-2026/
onboarding-2026/
  course.yaml
  lxpack.config.json
  lessons/
  interactions/
  assessments/
  assets/

Open the course root

Open the folder that contains course.yaml, not a single file. The file tree keeps manifest, lessons, and quizzes together.

Daily authoring loop

Same pipeline as Workflow overview:

flowchart LR
  edit[Edit in Cursor]
  val[lxpack validate]
  prev[lxpack preview]
  build[lxpack build]
  edit --> val --> prev --> build

1. Edit content

Task Where in Cursor
Reorder or add lessons course.yaml — edit lessons: list
Lesson text lessons/*.md
Quiz questions assessments/*.yaml
Clickable lab interactions/<name>/index.html
Images assets/ then reference in Markdown or HTML

Use File → Save (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S) after each change.

Reference guides:

2. Run lxpack in the integrated Terminal

Open Terminal in Cursor: View → Terminal or Ctrl+` (backtick).

From the course folder:

lxpack validate
lxpack validate

Fix any errors shown in red (often a wrong path in course.yaml). Click the file path in Terminal if Cursor links to it.

Then:

lxpack preview
lxpack preview

Open the URL in your browser. Leave Terminal running while reviewing; press Ctrl+C when done.

3. Build for the LMS

lxpack build --target scorm12
lxpack build --target scorm12

Find the ZIP under .lxpack/. See Export to LMS.

Cursor features that help (no AI)

Feature How to use it for LXPack
Search across files (Cmd+Shift+F) Find lesson ids, quiz ids, or broken paths
Split editor course.yaml on one side, lessons/intro.md on the other
Markdown preview Right-click a .md file → Open Preview (with Markdown extension)
Problems panel YAML extension shows schema-like mistakes before validate
Source Control Optional Git: commit after each module passes validate

Suggested folder habits

lxpack init creates a .gitignore that ignores .lxpack/ and *.zip. Keep assessments/*.yaml in Git — they are authoring source, not LMS export artifacts.

If you created a course before this template existed, add the same patterns manually. Do not commit build ZIPs; rebuild with lxpack build.

Copying content from SMEs or legacy tools

  1. Paste plain text into lessons/*.md (convert headings to # / ##).
  2. Rebuild quizzes manually in assessments/*.yaml — see Quizzes and assessments.
  3. Rebuild interactions as HTML — start from the template in Building interactions.
  4. Register every new file in course.yaml.
  5. lxpack validate after each batch of changes.

For a full legacy migration plan, see Migrating from legacy tools.

Library Skills (no Claude required)

Install portable Library Skills so Cursor’s agent picks up LXPack rules automatically when you edit course files:

# From LXPack repository clone
# From LXPack repository clone
./library-skills/install.sh --global
# Or only for one course:
./library-skills/install.sh --project --directory /path/to/my-course

See Library Skills. Skills work with Cursor’s skill discovery; you do not need Claude for the install itself.

Prompts for Cursor Chat

Even without Claude Agent, you can paste prompts from Prompts for Claude & Cursor into Cursor Chat. Use @course.yaml and @lessons/ to attach context. Each prompt block has a copy button on the docs site.

Recommended starting points:

  • Session starter — paste once per new chat
  • Cursor: fix validate errors — after lxpack validate fails
  • Cursor: build one module — when adding a whole section
Track Editor AI
Claude Design Any simple editor Claude Design / chat drafts content
Cursor (this guide) Cursor None — you write files
Claude Code Cursor Claude edits files in the repo

All three end with: lxpack validate → lxpack preview → lxpack build.

Troubleshooting in Cursor

Issue What to try
Terminal says lxpack: command not found Install CLI; open a new Terminal tab
Wrong folder in Terminal Terminal → New Terminal; cd to the folder with course.yaml
YAML won’t save Check you did not open the file as read-only; save with .yaml extension
Preview shows old content Save files; restart lxpack preview

More errors: Troubleshooting.

Next steps