Hello Cursor Support,
I always use IDE Mode, but recently Cursor has started launching in Agent Mode every time I open the application.
As a result, I have to manually switch back to IDE Mode and resize/maximize the window before I can start working. This happens every time I launch Cursor.
Could you let me know why this is happening? Is this expected behavior, a bug, or is there a setting that controls the default startup mode?
Thank you for your help.
You can change a configuration setting for that:
Guys, I just had this exact same issue. I turn off the “open agents windows on start up” then I restart cursor, making sure that this setting is saved. Yet each time I launched cursor it still launched to the agents interface instead of the traditional IDE. This is for sure a bug. I have the latest version of cursor. Is this bug is about to get fixed anytime soon?
This change is so bad I can see why people think its a bug not a intended change. Almost every release there are default UI changes that push the agent more and more. Its highly annoying that I keep having to research ways to put my UI/Layout back to the way I want it. This one is so egregious it makes me want to stop using Cursor altogether.
Edit: also turning off “open agents windows on start up” doesn’t work
This change, as well as other similar changes in the past, is just disgusting. Cursor trying to push down devs throat this agent workflow so hard while nobody was asking for that. So frustrating…
As a ux designer myself, I would like to see justification UX team gave to all this interface mess 
Also, am I the only one who does not see in Agents > option to “Open Agents Window on startup” which can be turned off? It seems like it’s just not there anymore. Version 3.7.19
The solution above doesn’t work.
Please fix this asap. I’m allergic to the agentic stuff, and this is the main reason why I prefer cursor over claude code or codex. I believe many others are the same.
Hi, any updates on this? It is quite annoying, and I can see why people think this is on purpose.
registered and added myself here to be notified when this issue is solved, as I previously did a search on many similar topics in this forum and it’s evident the issue exists. I also don’t see the option mentioned above. Somewhere it was told that by having the IDE view and closing Cursor with Cmd + Q, when it reopens it should maintain that view. That works, but only doing exactly that, quitting the app in other ways, or for example just restarting macos and then opening Cursor makes it open the Agent window again…
The same issue, I think this is a bug, since I turned off the option to open agents window. Please fix this, it is very frustrating.
This is so ridiculously frustrating. Did Musk already buy Cursor? Is that why we’re starting to see it fall apart now?
Signed up just to tell that this is nonsense. Please add a proper button to start in IDE. I’ve never used nor I am planning to use your agent window.
The big question here is, why is this the intended behavior?
Does Cursor have User Experience experts on their team? Because instead of changing the entire environment, it seems friendlier to put a pop-up that says, “We have this new thing, would you like to try it?” and then provide some quick way to revert it.
Last time, because I was newish, it took me a good bit to undo it and the Agent was clueless that the change even happened or how to fix it and API was wasted.
So please stop blocking my dev time by undoing my customized environment.
In the upper right you need to click the IDE button. Then in settings verify your default window is Editor and Open Agents Window on Startup is Off. Once you finish those three steps, you will return to starting in IDE mode.
Hey all!
Sorry for the confusion here. Let me (hopefully) clear things up.
Switching “Open Agents Window at Startup” to Off results in Cursor restoring the last used window on startup, rather than always defaulting to the Agents Window. It does not necessarily mean that the IDE becomes the default.
If you’ve set Open Agents Window at Startup" to Off, and the last window you had opened was the IDE, you should be taken to the IDE when reopening Cursor.
Feedback heard that this doesn’t solve the issue of restarting your computer completely and not preserving the previous Windows. Will share that with the team!
We’re currently working to clarify the setting (and probably renaming it) so that it does what it sounds like!
This was not my experience. It still opened in Agent window. I had to click IDE and going forward it worked as expected.
What worked for me:
