Describe the Bug
Cursor Agent CLI approval UI appears to misrender ApplyPatch add-file patches when the new file is Markdown containing bullet lines.
In an agent session, the agent attempted to create a new .mdc rule file via ApplyPatch:
*** Add File: /path/to/.cursor/rules/some-rule.mdc
The file did not exist. The patch was adding markdown content where many content lines naturally started with -, for example:
- Use
setDefault=true - Use service name
my-server
In the raw patch format these are added lines whose content starts with a dash, effectively:
± Use setDefault=true
But the approval/diff UI made those lines appear like removals or “ref lines” starting with -. This caused me to reject the edit because it looked like the agent was deleting details,
even though it was an add-file operation and no existing lines were being removed.
Impact:
This makes approving agent edits unsafe/confusing for markdown-heavy rule files, especially .mdc Cursor rules and Claude/Cursor instruction files.
Steps to Reproduce
- Start conversation and add a file with lines that start with
- - Get confused!
The approval UI made added markdown bullet lines look like deleted/ref lines, causing a false rejection and wasted debugging time.
Expected Behavior
Added lines whose content begins with - should be clearly rendered as additions, not visually confused with deletions. The UI should preserve the distinction between the patch operation
marker and markdown bullet content.
Operating System
MacOS
Version Information
• OS: macOS Darwin 25.5.0
• cursor-agent --version: 2026.05.20-2b5dd59
• cursor --version: command not available in shell
For AI issues: which model did you use?
GPT 5.5
Does this stop you from using Cursor
Yes - Cursor is unusable