Cursor Referral Link Checker

Batch-check Cursor referral links from a markdown file and separate links that are still usable from ones that have already been redeemed.

This repo uses a built-in API-based checker. It does not need browser automation, Playwright, or a manual login flow.

What It Does

The checker reads referral URLs from a markdown file, extracts the referral codes, checks each code against Cursor's referral API, and then writes the results back to disk.

For each run it will:

1. Read referral links from your input markdown file
2. Deduplicate repeated links
3. Check each code and classify it as active, redeemed, or unknown
4. Overwrite the input file with a results table
5. Save a backup copy of the original file as <input>.bak
6. Create active-links-YYYY-MM-DD.md with only the active links

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Copy links-template.md to links.md

3. Add your referral URLs

4. Run the checker:

npm run check

Usage

Run against the default file links.md:

npm run check

Run against a different markdown file:

npm run check -- my-referrals.md

Show command help:

npm run check -- --help

Slow the requests down if you hit rate limits:

# Windows PowerShell
$env:CHECK_DELAY_MS="2000"
npm run check

# Mac/Linux
CHECK_DELAY_MS=2000 npm run check

Input Format

The checker accepts any markdown file that contains Cursor referral URLs. The links do not need to be in a specific layout, as long as the URL appears in the file.

Example plain list:

https://cursor.com/referral?code=CODE1
https://cursor.com/referral?code=CODE2
https://cursor.com/referral?code=CODE3

Example markdown table:

| URL |
| --- |
| https://cursor.com/referral?code=CODE1 |
| https://cursor.com/referral?code=CODE2 |

Terminal Output

The checker prints progress in the terminal while it runs. Each line shows the referral code being checked and the result:

[12/50] Checking ABC123... active
[13/50] Checking XYZ789... redeemed
[14/50] Checking QWE456... unknown

Output Files

After a run, you should expect these files:

• links.md or your custom input file: replaced with a markdown table of results
• links.md.bak or <input>.bak: backup of the original content before rewriting
• active-links-YYYY-MM-DD.md: active links only, plus a simple summary

Status Meanings

• active: the referral link appears to still be valid and eligible
• redeemed: the referral link appears to have already been used or expired
• unknown: the API response could not be classified, often because of rate limiting or an unexpected response

Current classification logic is based on the API response shape:

• Active links usually return data such as { isValid: true, userIsEligible: true, ... }
• Redeemed links often return {} or metadata indicating the link has already been used or expired

How It Works

The main checker lives in checkReferralCodes.ts and uses undici to make direct HTTP requests to Cursor's referral endpoint:

• It scans the input file line by line
• It extracts referral codes from cursor.com/referral?code=... URLs
• It posts each code to Cursor's API
• It retries transient failures
• It writes both the table output and the active-links file

Project Files

credit-checker/
├── checkReferralCodes.ts       # Main checker
├── debugUnknown.ts             # Helper for inspecting hard-to-classify API responses
├── links-template.md           # Starter input file
├── README.md
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Notes

• The input file is rewritten in place, so the .bak file is important
• Duplicate referral URLs are checked only once per run
• If no active links are found, the results table is still written back to the input file