Hello, I have been experiencing this same issue, apparently. I found this thread while trying to figure out why the agent wasn’t able to run shell commands successfully in Ask mode- it sounds like that’s a deliberate design decision, but I must have missed the memo there. The agent doesn’t seem to …

Hey, thanks for the detailed write-up and the Request ID, that makes investigating a lot easier. Read-only in Ask mode is intentional. The agent shouldn’t run shell commands, write files, or change the system. So the shell being unavailable is expected. For tasks that need running commands, like a …

[image] Dean Rie: Read-only in Ask mode is intentional. The agent shouldn’t run shell commands This behavior seems new. Before I have frequently asked the agent to use read-only git commands in Ask Mode to investigate specific commits or working / staged changes. Today I encountered the sam…

Hey, thanks, that’s a helpful clarification. You’re right that the behavior didn’t change by accident. The terminal in Ask mode is now being pulled in through the read-only sandbox I mentioned in that thread. Before, the shell in Ask mode wasn’t really strictly limited. Now the restriction is rollin…

@deanrie This post was close to closing automatically one month after the last reply. Could you please provide an update about the progress towards getting it resolved?

Hey, thanks for coming back with a ping. This thread won’t be closed while the discussion is ongoing. Honest update: the team has both items on their radar. That includes the awareness part where the team gets blocked but the agent keeps responding without reflecting it in the main message, only in…

Here’s that Feature Request: [image] Configurable read-only shell access in Ask Mode Feature Requests Feature request for product/service Cursor IDE Describe the request Summary Please bring back the ability to run read-only shell commands in Ask Mode, gated …

Hey, thanks for moving this into a separate thread. That way, the configurable read-only shell in Ask mode can collect votes more easily and won’t get lost in a bug report. Status is unchanged. Both items are on the radar, but I don’t have an ETA, and I won’t promise this will ship as a simple togg…

Ask mode: agent unaware of shell restriction, doesn't suggest switching to Agent mode

Support Bug Reports

Leland_Hepworth (Leland Hepworth) August 24, 2026, 5:06pm 8

Here’s that Feature Request:

Topic		Replies	Views
Configurable read-only shell access in Ask Mode Feature Requests sandbox , terminal , auto-run , ask-mode	0	47	August 24, 2026
Ask mode uses a subagent to bypass restrictions of Ask mode. Is this a bug or intended behaviour? Bug Reports terminal , ask-mode , subagents	1	100	July 2, 2026
Agent Ran Database Command in Ask Mode Bug Reports terminal , auto-run , ask-mode	1	64	May 8, 2026
Ask Mode Terminal Commands Bug Reports terminal , ask-mode	8	233	September 6, 2026
Runs commands in Ask mode Bug Reports	2	85	January 6, 2026

Ask mode: agent unaware of shell restriction, doesn't suggest switching to Agent mode

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