I have been without the ability to use any of the highbtier models for a little while now. I keep on getting the 100% context used notification even when I switch to a new chat. I’m not sure what is going on but I would love your help to fix it
Hey, thanks for the report. What you’re seeing isn’t a per-chat context indicator, it’s the plan usage meter. It shows how much of your monthly included Pro usage you’ve used, so it stays at 100% even when you open a new chat. It’s an account-level meter, not tied to a specific chat.
Looks like you’ve already used up this cycle’s included usage for premium third-party models, so those are unavailable right now. Cursor models like Grok 4.6 Fast, Composer, and Auto are still available and will keep working.
What you can do:
- Turn on usage-based pricing in the dashboard at cursor.com/dashboard, then the other models will come back right away.
- Or wait for the monthly cycle reset, access will restore automatically.
If you’re seeing something else on screen and not this meter, send a screenshot of the notification and we’ll take a closer look.
O ok, that makes complete sense. I was told that upgrading my plan would also bring back my context usage, not sure if that is true. What suggestions do you have in order for this not to happen again and for me to get the most out of my plan?
Glad it’s clearer now. Let me break down both points.
Quick terms note: per-chat context (how much context has built up inside one chat) and the plan usage meter (how much of your included monthly usage you’ve spent) are two different things. The first one resets automatically when you start a new chat. The second one is account-level, so it can stay at 100% even in new chats.
About upgrading your plan: yep, that’s a valid option. A higher tier gives you a bigger included usage pool, so access to premium third-party models will come back and you’ll hit the limit less often. But upgrading won’t change per-chat context since it always resets when you start a new chat, so the upgrade isn’t related to that.
To avoid running into this again and get the most out of Cursor:
- Turn on usage-based pricing in the dashboard at cursor.com/dashboard. Then after you use up your included usage, models won’t get disabled and will keep working at API rates, with no need to wait for the cycle reset.
- Cursor models like Grok 4.6 Fast, Composer, and Auto use a separate pool and stay available even when the third-party pool runs out. For many tasks, they’re enough.
- Keep chats task-based. Start a new chat for a new task so per-chat context doesn’t grow and the model doesn’t spend tokens on unrelated history.
- Keep an eye on usage in the dashboard. It shows how each pool is being used.
If you decide to upgrade or turn on usage-based pricing and something doesn’t work the way you expect, tell me and we’ll dig into it.
Thanks Dean, I really appreciate the help!!!