Dynamic Shell Alias for IDE Detection

The Problem

When using multiple IDEs (like VS Code and Cursor), shell aliases that open files in an editor can become inconvenient. An alias that runs code will always open VS Code, even when working in a terminal launched from Cursor.

The Solution

We can create a dynamic alias that detects which IDE launched the terminal by checking the parent process, then opens files in the correct editor.

For a specific file, the alias looks like this:

1alias edit-alias='[[ "$(ps -o comm= -p $PPID)" == *"Cursor"* ]] && cursor ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/alias.zsh || code ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/alias.zsh'

The ps -o comm= -p $PPID command checks the terminal's parent process name. If it contains "Cursor", it uses the cursor command, otherwise it defaults to code.

A More Flexible Approach

Instead of hard-coding file paths in each alias, we can create a reusable function:

1edit() {
2  if [[ "$(ps -o comm= -p $PPID)" == *"Cursor"* ]]; then
3    cursor "$1"
4  else
5    code "$1"
6  fi
7}
8
9alias edit-alias='edit ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/alias.zsh'

Now the edit function can be used directly in the terminal with any file path:

1edit path/to/your/file