Custom modes are completely broken

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Custom modes can’t read files.
Since version 1.8.*, any custom mode created fails to call the read_file tool, now we are on version 2.0 and the issue is still there.

I have created another bug report before, got a response but it was not fixed, this is happening not only to me.

The other forum: Tool read_file not found

Steps to Reproduce

Just create and select a custom mode, select it and ask it to read a file.
It will then try to call the tool read_file and print out:
Tool read_file not found.

This happens once to every file it tried to read, when the Agent sees that it can’t access the tool, it fallbacks to other methods, like cat or grep for example.

Expected Behavior

When using a Custom Mode, it is supposed to call the read_file tool succesfully.

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.0.14 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: b40d4b28058fede67ea231ab37a15cececd94b00
Date: 2025-10-26T19:20:51.222Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Tried with Auto and Composer 1. Other models seem to not use the tool at all.

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

e9475f03-08e8-428a-895b-ae2634a27284

Additional Information

I used Custom Modes A LOT before, I’ve created a total of 6 custom modes (max), each mode has its own usage and they were really helpful. Now I am forced to use Agent mode only and ignore my own modes completely. They are really important to my current workflow.

Thanks in advance.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

2

Same, spent a ton of time customizing my agents with custom rules and workflows, and none of it works!

1 Like
3

Hey, thanks for the report. Could you update to the latest version and let me know if the issue still persists?

1 Like
4

Still happening unfortunately…

Version: 2.0.40 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: a9b73428ca6aeb2d24623da2841a271543735560
Date: 2025-10-30T04:12:35.564Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

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5

I just tried removing and creating the custom mode again, but it seems that I can’t do that, once I removed there is no way of adding a new custom mode again, so I “lost” a full custom mode…

I used to have a Planning custom mode, I have saved its prompt, but I can’t create it again.

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1 Like
6

Thanks for the info. This issue is already tracked in our system from your previous report.

The team is investigating the read_file problem in custom modes. For now, the standard Agent mode should work as a temporary workaround.

Regarding the deleted planning mode: it looks like you had a similar custom mode that we recently added called Plan. Custom modes have a quantity limit, you can try deleting another custom mode and creating it again. Also, don’t forget to start a new chat.

I understand you rely heavily on custom modes for your workflow, thanks for your patience while the team works on this.

1 Like