Custom modes and memories gone in 2.1

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

What’s happened? Are they unusable? Several best features vanished in new version… It seems it time to go to other AI IDE… Custom modes was only option to organize our work for spec driven… using Cursor Memory Bank. And what about memories? Are they unusable for agentic IDE?

Steps to Reproduce

just open cursor

Expected Behavior

Please return back custom modes and memories

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.20 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: a8d8905b06c8da1739af6f789efd59c28ac2a680
Date: 2025-11-22T14:51:59.472Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

2

Hey, thanks for the report. Custom Modes were intentionally removed in Cursor 2.1. There’s a detailed discussion about this here: Custom Modes missing in Cursor 2.1.0 (VSCode 1.105.1)

According to the staff responses in that thread, Custom Instructions from Custom Modes can be moved into Commands (similar functionality but a different workflow). You can find more details about this transition in that discussion.

It would also really help if you could share:

  • How you were using custom modes in your workflow (what did they do for you?)
  • Which part of custom modes was most critical for your work?

This will help us better understand your use case and suggest the closest alternatives.

4

Added comment to core discussion. I will recommend all my students to move from Cursor as soon as Custom modes are removed. Commands are not just the same. I can’t manage the model and MCP using commands; moreover, commands seem to be a manual solution. Custom modes were logical to use instead of subagengs like in Claude code or modes to act like an analyst or architect. The worth decision in Cursor as for me.. We were using a modified GitHub - vanzan01/cursor-memory-bank: A modular, documentation-driven framework using Cursor custom modes (VAN, PLAN, CREATIVE, IMPLEMENT) to provide persistent memory and guide AI through a structured development workflow with visual process maps.