Summary
After the team hits its included usage limit, Cursor via ACP in Qt Creator becomes unusable: handshake/session setup succeeds, but any real session/prompt returns “Upgrade your plan to continue”. At the same time, the same account works normally in the Cursor desktop app with Auto → Optimize For → Cost.
Expected behavior
When included usage is exhausted, ACP should either:
keep working with Auto Cost (bundled Auto pricing / continued access), or
fall back to an included model such as Composer 2.5,
as documented / described by Cursor staff for limit scenarios — instead of hard-blocking every prompt with “Upgrade your plan”.
Any subsequent user prompt fails with Upgrade your plan to continue.
This happens even when trying to pin models at process start, e.g.:
--model composer-2.5 acp
--model auto-smart[optimize_for=cost] acp
Qt Creator’s model UI typically shows composer-2.5, but prompts still fail.
In Cursor desktop, Auto Cost continues to work for the same user/team — so this is not a total account lockout; it appears specific to ACP / Router continued-access.
Context / related known issues
This matches the post–Cursor Router (Teams) ACP behavior reported on the forum:
ACP exposes default Auto routing as auto-smart and does not expose the Optimize For selector (Cost / Balance / Intelligence).
After team usage limit, Router Auto via ACP is rejected instead of falling back to continued-access / Cost / Composer.
Staff acknowledged Optimize For (including Cost) is not available on ACP clients yet (e.g. JetBrains; same protocol path as Qt Creator).
Impact
We cannot use Cursor agentically inside Qt Creator once the team limit is hit, even though desktop Auto Cost still works. For C++/Qt workflows this effectively means ACP is not usable for day-to-day work after quota.
Steps to reproduce
Use a Teams account that has exhausted (or nearly exhausted) included monthly usage.
Install Cursor CLI (agent), run agent login.
In Qt Creator: Preferences → AI → ACP Servers → Custom agent:
For AI issues: which model did you use?
Model name (e.g., Sonnet 4, Tab…)
For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled
Request ID: f9a7046a-279b-47e5-ab48-6e8dc12daba1
For Background Agent issues, also post the ID: bc-…
Additional Information
Add any other context about the problem here.
Does this stop you from using Cursor?
Yes - Cursor is unusable
Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor
No - Cursor works, but with this issue
The more details you provide, the easier it is for us to reproduce and fix the issue. Thanks!
Answering your third question first: no, ACP is not billed or gated differently from the desktop app. It runs under the same usage limits policy. The asymmetry is purely about which model IDs each surface is able to send.
Once a team’s included usage is exhausted, continued access accepts a specific set of model selections. Auto in its cost-optimized form is one of them, and so is the standard (non-fast) Composer 2.5. The desktop app can send those, which is why Auto → Optimize For → Cost keeps working for you.
ACP currently exposes only one variant per model: the routed Auto (Balance) and the fast variant of Composer 2.5. Neither is in the accepted set, so every prompt is rejected. I checked the pins you tried, and they all resolve back to those same two selections, so --model composer-2.5, --model auto, --model default, and auto-smart[optimize_for=cost] will not get you past it. This is a gap on our side, not a configuration problem on yours.
One more thing worth flagging: “Upgrade your plan to continue” is a generic message ACP shows for this whole class of limit errors, and it replaces the more specific explanation you would otherwise see. Your account is in good standing and you still have continued-access usage available, so no plan change is needed here.
Until we close the gap, there are 3 main options:
Cursor desktop with Auto → Optimize For → Cost, which you have already confirmed works.
The interactive cursor-agent CLI in a terminal instead of through ACP. Outside of ACP mode, the CLI can send the accepted selections, and your Composer 2.5 and Auto requests went through that way earlier today.
Your team admin can enable or raise on-demand usage from the dashboard, which lifts the restriction entirely.
Both the continued-access issue and the missing Optimize For selector on ACP clients are tracked internally, and I have attached your Qt Creator report to that work. I will follow up here once there is a fix to share.