Chat Automations setup broken: open_automation prefill never appears

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Feature request for product/service

Cursor IDE

Describe the request

Bug: Chat-driven Automations setup cannot complete — open_automation prefill never lands

Category: Bug Reports → Automations / Agents / MCP
Product area: Automations editor handoff from Agent chat (automate skill + cursor-app-control.open_automation)

Summary

When an agent in regular Chat follows Cursor’s documented Automations authoring flow (skill: create automation → call open_automation with prefillWorkflowData), the tool returns success (Opened Glass Automations) but no draft appears in the Automations UI. The user cannot complete automation setup from chat as advertised.

This makes the chat-based “design an automation” workflow effectively broken unless the user manually copies JSON into the editor.

Environment

OS: macOS (darwin 25.4.0)

Cursor: Agents + Automations feature (2026)

MCP: cursor-app-control with open_automation available

User has full / highest tool permissions (no approval popup — tool auto-executes)

Workspace: local git repo, no GitHub remote configured

Steps to reproduce

In regular Agent Chat (not necessarily Agents Window / Glass), ask the agent to create a Cursor Automation (e.g. “create a critical bug scan automation”).

Agent follows automate skill → builds prefillWorkflowData → calls cursor-app-control.open_automation with the draft.

Tool returns success: Opened Glass Automations.

User checks Automations UI — empty new form or no visible prefill (name, trigger, instructions missing).

Agent suggests “approve the tool call” — no approval UI appears because permissions are already granted; user cannot unblock.

Agent retries open_automation multiple times — same result.

Only workaround: manually open Agents Window → Automations → New, then copy fields from a JSON file the agent wrote to disk.

Expected behavior

Per open_automation tool description and automate skill:

Calling open_automation with prefillWorkflowData should open the Automations editor with the draft pre-filled (name, description, trigger, tools, instructions).

User should be able to finish repo/branch picker in editor and save — without re-typing a long prompt.

If prefill requires Agents Window, chat should clearly state that upfront and/or automatically focus Glass Automations before sending prefill.

If prefill fails silently, tool should return an error — not success.

Actual behavior

Tool reports success but prefill does not appear when invoked from regular Chat.

Documentation/skill implies an “approve prefill” step; with max permissions there is no approval UI — user is stuck with no feedback loop.

Repeated calls do not help.

Comment in tool schema: “prefill data is sent only to the active Glass view” — this constraint is not surfaced to the user by the skill flow, and there is no reliable way to ensure Glass Automations is the active target from chat.

Net result: chat cannot complete Automations setup; defeats the purpose of the automate skill finish path.

Impact

Users following official “create automation from agent” guidance waste multiple turns and believe the product is broken.

Forces manual JSON copy or re-typing long system prompts (the exact UX Automations prefill was meant to eliminate).

Undermines the Automations onboarding story described in Cursor’s blog (agent-authored automations).

Suggested fixes (any of)

Reliable prefill delivery: Queue prefill server-side and apply when user next opens Automations → New (even if not already on that page).

Hard error on miss: If no active Glass Automations form, return failure + deep link that opens New with prefill (not silent success).

Skill/tool UX: When open_automation is called from Chat, auto-focus Agents Window Automations new-form before sending payload.

Import path: Allow “Import automation from JSON” in editor (agent writes .cursor/automations/*.json).

Docs: Until fixed, remove or qualify the chat finish path in the automate skill so users aren’t sent on a dead-end loop.

Workaround (current)

Agent writes draft to .cursor/automations/.json; user manually creates automation and pastes fields.

Operating System (if it applies)

MacOS

2

Hi there!

We detected that this may be a bug report, so we’ve moved your post to the Bug Reports category.

To help us investigate and fix this faster, could you edit your original post to include the details from the template below?

Bug Report Template - Click to expand

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

  • Cursor IDE
  • Cursor CLI
  • Background Agent (GitHub, Slack, Web, Linear)
  • BugBot
  • Somewhere else…

Describe the Bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

Steps to Reproduce
How can you reproduce this bug? We have a much better chance at fixing issues if we can reproduce them!

  1. …
  2. …
  3. …

Expected Behavior
What is meant to happen here that isn’t working correctly?

Screenshots / Screen Recordings
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Operating System

  • Windows 10/11
  • MacOS
  • Linux

Version Information

  • For Cursor IDE: Menu → About Cursor → Copy
  • For Cursor CLI: Run agent about in your terminal
IDE:
Version: 2.xx.x
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ......

CLI:
CLI Version 2026.01.17-d239e66

For AI issues: which model did you use?
Model name (e.g., Sonnet 4, Tab…)

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled
Request ID: f9a7046a-279b-47e5-ab48-6e8dc12daba1
For Background Agent issues, also post the ID: bc-…

Additional Information
Add any other context about the problem here.

Does this stop you from using Cursor?

  • Yes - Cursor is unusable
  • Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor
  • No - Cursor works, but with this issue

The more details you provide, the easier it is for us to reproduce and fix the issue. Thanks!

6

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. It really helps.

Key point: the finish step open_automation currently works only in the Agents Window. From a normal Agent Chat in the IDE, this tool is basically not available, so the prefill draft doesn’t make it into the form. The success reply Opened Glass Automations only confirms that navigation happened, not that the form was filled, which is why it feels like a silent success.

What to try:

  • Open the Agents Window, keep Automations as the active panel, and run /automate there.
  • Update Cursor to the latest version.

About the agent advice to approve the tool call: that’s a model glitch. When permissions are already granted, there’s no separate approval gate for prefill, so waiting for a popup won’t help. Your workaround with JSON in .cursor/automations/ works, but the goal is for the handoff from chat to work without it.

To dig deeper, can you share:

  1. Your exact Cursor version Menu -> About Cursor -> Copy.
  2. Were you in the Agents Window at the moment open_automation returned success?

We’re actively improving chat-driven automation creation, so your feedback on the dead-end loop is useful. Let me know the details above and we’ll take a closer look.