Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add skills/coefficient-work/mcp-doctor/codex-vs-cursornpx skills add Coefficient-work/mcp-doctor --skill codex-vs-cursorgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Coefficient-work/mcp-doctorWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/coefficient-work/mcp-doctor/codex-vs-cursor)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/coefficient-work/mcp-doctor/codex-vs-cursor"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/coefficient-work/mcp-doctor/codex-vs-cursor.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.00074 | $0.00763 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00037 | $0.00381 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00015 | $0.00153 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00007 | $0.00076 |
Grade A, and why
codex-vs-cursor scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 73 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Codex vs Cursor — agent routing
Route the coding agent, not the framework/stack. Do not recommend Claude Code as default. Do not push Hermes, Buzz, Obsidian, or Cloudflare Workers for this decision.
Defaults
| Tool | Role |
|---|---|
| Cursor | Daily IDE — UI work, Flutter, Payload admin, TARS ops, fuzzy explore/debug, tight interactive loops, reviewing diffs live |
| Codex | Walk-away / async agent — scoped migrations, schema PRs, batch fixes, FlutterFlow/Firebase cleanup, large refactors where Louis can leave and come back to a PR |
Decision checklist
Prefer Cursor when any of these dominate:
- Visual / UI iteration (layout, Flutter widgets, Payload admin screens)
- Unclear scope — need explore → poke → adjust in one session
- TARS hub ops, finance scripts, Gmail/remote bridge, Mac mini control
- Live diff review, pair-style debugging, “stay with me while we fix this”
- Small edits that benefit from IDE context (open files, canvas, terminal)
Prefer Codex when most of these are true:
- Scope is writable as a bounded PR (files/areas named up front)
- Work is batchy or mechanical (migrate X→Y, fix N call sites, schema + follow-through)
- Louis wants to walk away and return to a PR / branch
- FlutterFlow or Firebase cleanup / large generated-code sweeps
- Multi-hour refactor where interactive back-and-forth adds little
Split the job when both apply: Cursor for discovery and acceptance criteria → Codex for the bulk PR → Cursor for review polish.
Output format (when advising)
Keep it short:
- Recommendation: Cursor | Codex | Split
- Why: 1–2 bullets from the checklist above
- If Codex: one-line PR/scope brief Louis can paste (goal, in-scope paths, out-of-scope, done when)
- If Cursor: stay in-session; no walk-away framing needed
Repo notes (optional)
| Repo / area | Lean |
|---|---|
jobs-foundation-website |
Codex especially useful (WP→Payload/media migrations, batch content) |
yjordan |
Codex strong for scoped batch/migration PRs |
| Flutter / Firebase batch work | Codex for cleanup sweeps; Cursor for UI polish |
tars, paedia, slj |
Cursor primary (UI/ops, interactive loops) |
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 3d ago First seen · 73 lines · 74 tokens per session scan A 7b0df5f74b7c
codex-vs-cursor is a skill published in the GitHub repository Coefficient-work/mcp-doctor (0 stars, last pushed 10d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 74 tokens to every session and 763 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.
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