Code editing in Ask mode, sed edits escape versioning

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Switching from Agent to Ask and back introduces weird behavior.

  • In Ask, the model decided to edit something using sed and cat despite that I just asked about the code I created.
  • After returning to Agent mode, it continued using sed and cat to edit files, which resulted in worse edits and lack of version control (“X Files for Review” does not include the files changed by by tools.

Steps to Reproduce

Use Composer 1 on a task where “Ask” might involve some coding (but it was not needed in my case), model will implement the changes using sed or cat. Then switch to Agent and see if it still edits code by sedandcat`.

Expected Behavior

  1. In Ask mode, it should not use tools that edit code
  2. Even if it uses tools to edit code, it should appear in the edited files such that we can revert the changes.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

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Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.6.19
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 224838f96445be37e3db643a163a817c15b36060
Date: 2026-03-12T04:07:27.435Z (4 days ago)
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.6.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Composer 1

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

984f4f71-3c78-40f1-b11e-d1eaa1385f3e

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

4

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. There are two separate bugs here, and both are known.

  1. Ask mode uses sed or cat for edits
    This happens because the state can get out of sync when switching modes Agent to Ask to Agent inside the same chat. Composer 1 is especially prone to this. Similar reports:

Workaround: when you change modes, it’s better to start a new chat instead of switching inside the existing one. You can also try a different model, Sonnet 4.5 or Claude 4.6 tend to be more stable in Ask mode.

  1. Edits made via sed or cat don’t show up in Files for Review
    This is an architectural limitation. The review panel only tracks changes made via the built-in edit tools. Terminal commands like sed and cat bypass that system. The team is aware.

Thanks for the Request ID, I’ve forwarded it along with the report. Let me know if starting a new chat helps.

8

Hey @Bender250!

The ask mode editing issue has been fixed in a recent Cursor update. Updating to the latest version should resolve this. If you’re still experiencing this on the latest version of Cursor, please raise a new thread and we’ll take a look.