Cannot spawn agents of a different thinking level than ones which are currently selected in the model list

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I request that the agent spawns Cursor Grok 4.5 Medium when it is on Cursor Grok 4.5 High.
It says that there is no such model available in the “allowed list”. Same goes for Cursor Grok 4.5 Low.

So, when a Grok effort level is picked in the model selector, that is the only one it can use for agents. Doesn’t seem to be the case for other first party models like Composer 2.5

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Select “Cursor Grok 4.5 High” in model selector
  2. Start chat with Cursor Grok 4.5 High.
  3. Ask to make a Cursor Grok 4.5 Medium or Low agent.
  4. Will say that that model is “not on allowlist”.

Expected Behavior

Should be able to spawn Cursor Grok 4.5 agents of any speed or effort upon request.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

bug.png
bug.png434×1124 42.3 KB

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.12.17 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: 0fb762053c34788bb7760d5673f8a6d4c8589d50
Date: 2026-07-17T02:53:53.006Z
Layout: IDE
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: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Cursor Grok 4.5 High/Medium/Low
Composer 2.5 (grok was very reluctant to spawn non-allowlist subagent)

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 a live test via the agent, thanks for running it. That really helps confirm the behavior.

Your read is correct: which Grok effort variant a subagent can use depends on what’s selected in the model picker. When it was set to Medium, spawning cursor-grok-4.5-high was rejected. After switching the picker to High, it went through (cursor-grok-4.5-high agent ok). Within a single session, you can’t use High, Medium, and Low at the same time, only the currently selected variant.

For now, there are two workarounds:

  • Change the Grok effort in the picker before starting the chat. The saved variant is what decides what subagents can access, or keep separate chats per effort.
  • Don’t specify a model for the subagent at all. Then it will inherit the parent model.

This is a known limitation on our side, I’ve reported it internally. No timeline for a change yet, but if I get an update I’ll reply in the thread.