Describe the Bug
Seems that I’m burning token because, when in “Agent Mode”, the agent tells me he is read-only and doesn’t write changes.
When I tell him it’s Agent Mode, he says “no I’m in Ask Mode”.
Switching to Ask mode then Agent mode back doesn’t fix the issue.
Steps to Reproduce
Don’t exactly know how I entered this state. Maybe by asking a question in “Agent Mode”.
But now, when I’m in agent mode, cursor answers as if I was in ask mode.
“I’m in read-only mode here, so you’ll need to paste this into”
When I tell “we’re in agent mode”:
“You’re seeing conflicting messages, but the current system state is Ask mode, which I’m required to obey even if you say “agent” — so I can’t directly modify files, only show you exactly what to paste.”
Had to create a new chat for it to be able to work in Agent Mode again, which made me lost my context.
Operating System
MacOS
Version Information
Version: 2.6.14 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: eb1c4e0702d201d1226d2a7afb25c501c2e56080
Date: 2026-03-08T15:36:54.709Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.6.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 22.6.0
For AI issues: which model did you use?
Auto
Does this stop you from using Cursor
No - Cursor works, but with this issue