(Almost) everything to do with Inline Diffs is gone from latest Cursor install (3.9.16) on Ubuntu (24.04)

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Hi all. I just completely removed Cursor from my system (Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS) and did a fresh install. Specifically, I downloaded cursor_3.9.16_amd64.deb from Cursor homepage to my Downloads folder, and then did the usual sudo apt install cursor_3.9.16_amd64.deb. That appeared to do some magic and now I can open Cursor by just typing cursor into the terminal. Everything appears to work fine, except now when I prompt an agent to do something, it does it without showing any inline changes, and the keep/review/undo prompt is gone, changes are saved without checking. Fair enough, obviously I need to change the settings. Online instructions tell me to go to Settings → Apply Changes → Inline Diff. However, Apply Changes is completely missing from my Settings page. I’ve searched in multiple ways for Apply Changes and Inline Diff, but both of them appear to be completely gone. Interestingly, Themed Diff Backgrounds is still there under Settings → Inline Editing & Terminal, but as near as I can tell it doesn’t do anything, since everything else to do with Inline Diffs is completely gone. Is this a bug? Cheers -Colin

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Hey Colin. This isn’t a bug, the settings are hidden because you’re looking in the wrong window.

In Cursor 3, it opens the new Agents Window by default, and the Applying Changes section with the Inline Diffs toggle is hidden there. It only exists in the classic Editor Window. That’s why you can see Themed Diff Backgrounds, but you can’t see Apply Changes or Inline Diffs.

What to do:

  • Press Ctrl+Shift+P then run Open Editor Window.
  • In that window go to Cursor Settings > Agents > Applying Changes and turn on Inline Diffs.

With Inline Diffs off, auto-keep is used and changes apply right away with no review UI. Turn it on and you’ll get the red green diffs and Keep and Undo back.

Optional: in Settings > Startup, turn off Open Agents Window on Startup so it opens the Editor Window by default.

A similar breakdown is here: After updating Cursor, Agent mode applies file changes **directly to disk** with no red/green inline diff and no **Keep / Undo** (or Accept / Reject) controls. Settings that used to control this either don't exist in my UI or have no effect. This removed. Let me know if diffs still don’t show up after this.

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Thanks for responding. Yes, that’s the issue. Thanks for making it clear. The only problem now is that I’m trying to implement your “Optional”, but Settings > Startup is nowhere to be found. It is not in either the Settings accessed through the Editor window, nor the Agents window. I’ve also tried using the search functionality within Settings to search for “startup” but it is not finding anything.

EDIT: I found Settings > Agents > Open Agents Window on Startup, but disabling this still resulted in the Agents window opening on startup for some reason

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Hey, glad we sorted out the diffs. About Optional, I messed up the wording. There isn’t a separate Startup section, the correct path is the one you found: Settings > Agents > Open Agents Window on Startup.

If Cursor still opens the Agents Window after you turn that toggle off, that’s a bug on our side, and we already know about it.

For now, the workaround is to switch to the Editor Window manually at the start of the session: Ctrl+Shift+N, or via Command Palette Ctrl+Shift+P > Open Editor Window. The Editor Window will remember the project, and then you can work as usual.

Let me know if the toggle starts behaving differently after a restart.

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All good. Computer restart and now everything seems to be working correctly. Thanks again!