Adding Context to Chat in AI
From the Cursor cheat sheet ยท Context Management ยท verified Jul 2026
Adding Context to Chat
Include relevant code and files
bash
# Selection context
Ctrl+Shift+L # Add selected code to chat
Ctrl+L # Add selection to new chat
# Clipboard context
Ctrl+V # Add clipboard as context (auto-detect)
Ctrl+Shift+V # Add clipboard to input box
# Reference operators
@ # Reference specific items
# # Reference files
/ # Use shortcut commands
# Codebase search
Ctrl+Enter # Search entire codebase in chatbash
// EXAMPLE: Multi-file context
> @file1.ts @file2.ts How do these interact?
// EXAMPLE: Codebase search
> Find all API endpoints [Ctrl+Enter]
// EXAMPLE: Reference specific function
> @calculateTotal Why does this return NaN?๐ก @ symbol references specific context
โก Ctrl+Enter searches entire codebase
๐ Clipboard auto-formats as context
๐ Multiple files can be referenced at once
contextreferencesearch