Auto Detect Color Scheme not working on MacOS

[tedspikes (Ted Kostylev)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Enabling “Auto Detect Color Scheme” forces the color scheme to dark regardless of current system settings. Disabling the checkbox switches between light and dark, so this is not a case of me mistakenly setting a dark theme for the light mode.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set system to light mode
2. Check “Auto Detect Color Scheme” in Cursor settings
3. Observe the bug

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.3.41 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 2ca326e0d1ce10956aea33d54c0e2d8c13c58a30
Date: 2026-01-16T19:14:00.150Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.6.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue. When you enable Auto Detect, the default light theme doesn’t get linked correctly.

Simple workaround: scroll down in Settings and manually pick the themes you want for Light and Dark mode. After that, auto switching should work correctly.

Similar report with a screenshot of the fix: VS Code Setting Auto Detect Color Scheme Not Working

[zhizhongpu]

@deanrie

Simple workaround: scroll down in Settings and manually pick the themes you want for Light and Dark mode. After that, auto switching should work correctly.

Does not work.