Somehow I cannot create a new chat that run in Remote Machines if using Cursor Desktop’s Agent Window, but it does works if I’m initiating it in Cursor Web.
Steps to Reproduce
Run Cursor’s agent worker in remote environment. My case is a Linux VM in other PC
Open Cursor Agents Window
Open environment picker (Run on) → Remote Machines → Choose the remote environment
The text saying “Pool Shared”, i don’t know what that means
Create a chat with any prompt, then it will show error:
[invalid_argument] Invalid repository URL. Select a repository with an owner and name.
Expected Behavior
Should be similar like what happen in Cursor Web:
The top text should show the chosen environment name (devbox)
Hey, thanks for the detailed report with the video and version info. This is a known issue we’re tracking.
What’s happening: in the desktop Agent Window, when you pick a Remote Machine it loses the binding to that specific machine, and the selection falls back to shared-pool routing. That’s why you see the Pool Shared label. Then the start fails on the repo check, because the desktop Agent Window currently requires the remote worker to have a git remote in GitHub owner/repo format. Cursor Web can start repo-less machines, but the desktop app can’t yet, so it works there.
Workarounds until this is fixed:
Run agent worker on the remote machine from a folder that’s a git clone with origin set to a GitHub-style owner/repo URL. Then the picker should show the repo plus the machine name, and the start should work.
Or keep starting these chats via Cursor Web, repo-less starts are supported there.
I can’t share a timeline yet, but I’ll reply in the thread when there’s an update. Let me know if the workaround helped.
Great to hear Remote Machines startup worked in 3.17.3.
On your request: in the screenshot, in the folder picker where you see /home/luth-v, the “No Repo” option is no longer there. That’s expected. Right now that slot in the desktop New Agent flow is used for picking a folder or “Start from scratch”, so there isn’t a separate entry point for a repo-less start in the desktop window for now. This isn’t caused by your setup. We’re tracking it, but I can’t share a timeline yet.
Workaround: you can still start a repo-less agent not tied to a repository via Cursor Web.
I’ll follow up in the thread once there’s an update on bringing this option back to desktop.
