Agents window launches on off

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

On macOS, Cursor 3.11.19 opens the Agents Window every time the app launches even though Settings → General → Open Agents Window on Startup is set to Off. The startup preference is ignored, so Cursor opens the Agent interface instead of the normal IDE/editor layout.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open Cursor Settings → General.
  2. Set “Open Agents Window on Startup” to “Off”.
  3. Return to the normal IDE/editor window.
  4. Fully quit Cursor with Cmd+Q.
  5. Relaunch Cursor from the Dock, Spotlight, or Finder.
  6. Observe that the Agents Window opens anyway.
  7. Repeat the quit/relaunch cycle; the Agents Window continues to open on every launch.

Expected Behavior

When “Open Agents Window on Startup” is Off, Cursor should launch directly into the normal IDE/editor layout and should not automatically open the Agents Window.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

CursorBug.png
CursorBug.png1608×948 78.5 KB

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.11.19 (Universal)
VS Code Extension API: 1.125.0
Commit: bf249e6efb5b097f23d7e21d7283429f0760b740
Date: 2026-07-12T21:39:24.175Z
Layout: Agent Window
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.256
OS: Darwin arm64 25.3.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

N/A — this is an IDE startup/UI issue, not a model response issue.

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

N/A — no AI request is involved.

Additional Information

The attached screenshot shows “Open Agents Window on Startup” set to Off. Other users report that the same setting is ignored: Reddit - Please wait for verification

This happens on every launch and forces an extra manual step to get back to the IDE. Cursor remains usable after switching to the editor, but the startup behavior is incorrect and disruptive.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. I see the screenshot with “Open Agents Window on Startup” set to Off, and yeah, that behavior looks familiar.

There’s a nuance in how this setting works. Off disables opening the Agents Window by default, but it doesn’t override restoring windows from the previous session. So if the Agents Window was open when you quit Cursor, it’ll be restored on the next launch, and it can keep repeating.

Workaround: close the Agents Window once, or quit with Cmd+Q from a normal editor window (not from the Agents Window), so it doesn’t get saved into the restored session. After that, launches should land directly in the IDE.

This is known behavior and it’s being tracked, and we plan to make the setting clearer. I can’t share an ETA yet. Let me know if the workaround helped.