Agent default mode not working

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

When I set Default Mode to Ask in the Agents settings and then open a new chat, Agent is selected instead of Ask. He does the same for three other colleagues.

Steps to Reproduce

Settings > Agents > Default Mode: Ask > Open new chat: selected Agent instead of Ask

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.32 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ef979b1b43d85eee2a274c25fd62d5502006e420
Date: 2025-11-25T05:00:12.749Z
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 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

2

Hey, thanks for the report. Yes, we’re aware of an issue where the Default Mode setting in the chat panel is not respected when opening new chats in Agent mode. In Editor mode it should work correctly.

Right now this setting doesn’t work as expected - even if you choose “Ask”, new chats still open in Agent mode.

As a workaround, you can quickly switch modes:

  • Windows: Ctrl+. to switch between Ask and Agent modes
  • Or click the mode selector at the top of the chat panel

We understand this adds extra steps to your workflow. The team is already aware of this limitation.