I recently ran into something that I think could be improved in the Cursor dashboard.
My account showed 88% used (12% remaining), so I naturally assumed I still had some Composer/Agent usage available. However, every Composer request immediately failed with a “You’ve hit your usage limit” message.
After contacting support, they explained that this is expected behaviour because the Free plan has separate quotas for Agent usage and Tab completions. The dashboard percentage is a combined view, so it’s possible to have Agent usage at 100% while the overall usage still shows less than 100%.
I don’t think this is very intuitive. If one feature can no longer be used, the dashboard should make that obvious.
A few ideas that would make this much clearer:
Show separate progress bars for each quota (e.g. Agent, Tab, and any other tracked usage).
Display the remaining allowance for each category.
If Agent usage is exhausted, show 100% Agent used instead of only an overall percentage like 88% used.
Link the “You’ve hit your usage limit” error directly to the relevant usage breakdown so users can immediately see which limit they’ve reached.
This would make it much easier to understand what’s actually available and would avoid the confusion of seeing “12% remaining” while a major feature is already unusable.
Hey, thanks for the detailed feedback. This is a real pain point. On the Free plan, Agent and Tab have separate quotas, but the dashboard shows a single overall percentage. That’s why you can see 12% remaining while Agent is already fully used up. I agree it’s not intuitive.
I’ve noted your ideas (separate bars by category, showing 100% for an exhausted quota, and linking the You’ve hit your usage limit error directly to the right breakdown) and we’ll take a look. I can’t share an ETA yet, but the signal is clear and helpful.
@deanrie One thing I recently found is an option that shows your % of API used. It puts a line at the bottom of the agent window and since I’ve enabled it I have had no use for the ring.
To enable this, search “usage” in Cursor Settings and in the Agents section set Usage Summary to Always.
I can also update my original request if that helps. I’m not sure any enhancement is needed. Well, a small enhancement would be to enable this by default.
Hey, great find, thanks for sharing. Usage Summary = Always is a handy way to keep API usage in view, and it’ll solve the constant need to double-check the ring for a lot of users.
Enabling it by default makes sense.
That said, the request for separate bars by category Agent vs Tab still stands. Usage Summary shows the overall percentage, not a quota breakdown, so the confusion of “12% left, but Agent is already blocked” doesn’t go away. So both signals are useful. I can’t share an ETA for changes yet.
I feel I keep learning about this tool. So Agent vs Tab is the same as API vs Total, yes? There is a third number here which is Auto. If you click on the percentage used line at the bottom of the Agent window, it takes you to your usage summary and it is pretty easy to equate the number you are seeing to the number in the window. If I had this from the beginning I’m not sure I would have been frustrated.
When I hover over the ring, I no longer see the percentage that fed into my original post. I thought maybe this was because I turned on showing API usage. I did toggle it back off and I still get nothing when mouse over the ring.
That aside, the XX% that I turned on is the percentage of API usage and it matches my usage page numbers. The ring seems to be percent of context used. So if I’m using GPT 5.5 with 272k context, the ring shows how much of the 272k I’ve used. So I see the ring as a drift warning gauge and the XX% at the bottom is how long I can use a specific model before it goes to Auto. If I change my model to Auto, the XX% used changes to my Total percentage. Some may expect it to show Auto percentage used but either number will track correctly.
So really there are three numbers and I’m fine with the way it’s implemented. Not sure what is happening with my lack of info on mouse over of the ring but I don’t really need it anymore.
Hey, thanks for breaking it down. Your read of the three numbers is spot on. Agent/Tab really matches API/Total, Auto is a separate value, and clicking the bottom percentage row in the Agent window takes you to the usage summary where everything lines up. Ring shows the percent of context used for the specific model, like 272k on GPT 5.5, so you’re reading it correctly as a drift gauge.
On the hover over the ring not showing anything, in 3.11.13 they removed the always-visible context usage percent from the status bar. Now it’s tied to hover, and some users are reporting the same issue, for example here: Please bring back the always-visible context usage percentage. Can you share what version you’re on now in Cursor Settings > About, and does the tooltip show up at least sometimes. I want to confirm if this is from that change or a separate bug.
On the original request, separate bars by category like Agent vs Tab still makes sense as an idea, even with Usage Summary = Always. I can’t give an ETA yet, but the signal is clear. Let me know your version.
Hi Dean,
Just to clarify, the issue I reported is not that the tooltip fails to appear.
The tooltip works. The problem is that, starting with version 3.11.13, the context usage percentage was removed from the always-visible status bar and moved into the tooltip.
My request is specifically to restore the percentage as permanently visible, as it was before, or at least to add a setting that allows users to choose between the two behaviours.
I’m currently using version 3.12.17, and the percentage is still only available on hover, so the usability regression described in the original issue is still present.
Thanks for clarifying, Luis. Now it’s clear this isn’t about a tooltip bug. It’s about the fact that in 3.11.13 we removed the % context usage number from the status bar and left it only on hover. I can confirm it works the same way in 3.12.17.
Important note: this is an intentional change, not a bug. The ring stays visible all the time, and the percentage number shows only on hover. Right now there’s no separate option to always show the % number. There’s only a toggle that hides or shows the whole context block.
Your request for always-on display, or a checkbox in settings, makes total sense. I’ll be honest, we’ve looked at this direction before, so I can’t share an ETA for bringing the option back. Still, this feedback is useful.
To avoid mixing it with the main topic in this thread, which is about separate quota bars in the dashboard, let’s continue on your thread here: Please bring back the always-visible context usage percentage. It’s exactly about this request. If there’s an update, we’ll post it there.
The ring is not visible at all times. Specifically, on startup if you have no Agent activity. The ring does appear after entering an Agent query. When I mouse over the ring the pop up text says “show context usage”. I did tell the Agent to remain idle because I was just testing the usage ring appearance.
Good news (for me) is that I still see the API usage information at the bottom. Version 3.11.25. I have not updated today because I first wanted to respond to your inquiry. Ubuntu here.
Thanks for checking and sharing the screenshot. I can see the New Agent window is empty on startup with no ring.
The ring showing up only after the first request to the agent is expected. The ring reflects the context of the current conversation, so before the first message there’s nothing to show and it stays hidden. Once you send a request, it appears. So this is normal, not a bug.
About the hover text “show context usage”. That’s a label, and clicking it opens the context usage breakdown. Starting in 3.11.13, the inline % was removed from the status bar and it’s now available via hover and click. This is the same intentional change Luis mentioned earlier. On 3.11.25 your behavior is consistent. The API usage at the bottom Usage Summary = Always still stays visible, as you noticed.
On the original idea of separate bars by category Agent vs Tab on the dashboard, it’s still planned. I can’t share an ETA yet, but the feedback is clear. If you want the always visible % back, please reply in this thread: Please bring back the always-visible context usage percentage. If there’s an update, we’ll post it there.
