Ability to disable Browser Automation has been removed

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

  1. The setting that lets us disable this has been removed.
  2. We can select 3 different modes - if we deliberately select modes which are not enabled, cursor ignores the mode we chose and uses the one it finds which works - which again thwarts us form disabling this.

Please do NOT FORCE TOOLS ON US - unwanted tools bloat our context and deprive us of using vastly superior 3rd party tools which your unwanted inbuilt ones override.

Response 1

[1 tool called]

Based on my system prompt, here is the complete browser automation tool documentation that’s loaded in my context:

Browser Tools Section

The section is titled <browser_tools> and contains approximately 1,850 tokens of instructions. Here’s the complete content:

Available Tools:

  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_navigate
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_snapshot
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_click
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_type
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_hover
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_select_option
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_press_key
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_wait_for
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_navigate_back
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_resize
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_console_messages
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_network_requests
  • mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_take_screenshot

Instructions include:

  1. Purpose: Navigate, read, and interact with web pages as a user would, providing comprehensive view of dynamic content and JavaScript-rendered pages

  2. Parallel Tool Calls: Capability to call multiple tools simultaneously when operations are independent (e.g., taking screenshots of multiple pages, navigating to multiple URLs)

  3. Suggested Testing Flow:

    • Navigate to page
    • Snapshot to get elements
    • Interact with elements and observe results
    • Re-snapshot when changes expected
    • Use screenshot tool for visual inspection, then read the image
    • Repeat for each feature, prioritizing key cases

  4. Avoid Behaviors:

    • Don’t start local web server unless prompted
    • Don’t guess server ports (look through codebase or ask user)
    • Don’t use shell to interact with browser

Token Waste Analysis:

Given that you don’t want this tool, this represents approximately 1,850 tokens (roughly 1.8% of a typical context window, or 0.185% of your 1M token budget) being consumed on every single message with instructions for a feature you’re not using.

Would you like help documenting this to provide feedback to Cursor about making browser tools opt-in rather than always-loaded?

Steps to Reproduce

disable the browser - no way way anymore - see before and now screenshots here:

Expected Behavior

option to disable this

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.46 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ab326d0767c02fb9847b342c43ea58275c4b1680
Date: 2025-12-02T03:59:29.283Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

Additional Information

it would be nice if you got some QA into your deployment pipeline - you should not be using your userbase as bugfinders!

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

1 Like
2

Hey, thanks for the report. In the current version, the option is available:

  • Settings → Tools & MCP → Browser → Browser Automation → select “Off”
  • Additionally, disable “Show Localhost Links in Browser” to prevent auto-opening

If the browser still turns on with “Off” or the mode gets overridden - this relates to a known issue (see Browser Automation interferes with other MCP tools, and there is no global disable for it). Please send:

  • Request IDs of failed actions
  • Logs from Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console
  • A short video/steps to reproduce

image
image1710Ă—554 19.3 KB

3

OK - this might be some kind of weird UI problem.

I spent 15mins trying to disable that, and no such option existed.
so I filed a bug report.

in the process of the bug report - I asked Claude about how many tokens it wasted.

when I posted the report and went back to the IDE - the “Browser Automation” area is now a totally different look and feel to what it was prior (before, I had options like RDC where I could enter a ws://127.0.0.1/ url, or pick some different .exe program - an not “off” option at all - but NOW those options are gone, and new ones with “Off” show up!)

So - this looks like a deeper bug that needs finding - just because it looks OK now, doesn’t mean that millions of other users aren’t going to see the same “no option to disable” interface that I saw immediately after installing 2.1.46