"Developer: Inspect Context Keys" command has no effect

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

The “Developer: Inspect Context Keys” command has no effect.

Steps to Reproduce

Open Developer Tools (Help → Toggle Developer Tools")
Select Console tab (within developer tools)
Ctrl Shift P (open command bar)
Type: “Developer: Inspect Context Keys” (and press enter)
Click some region within the Cursor IDE UI. (I tried the Terminal and several other areas.)
Inspect console in developer tools.

Expected Behavior

A JavaScript object with the context keys should be shown in the Developer Tools : Console tab. (A screenshot of the correct behavior in VS Code is attached.)

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

screenshots.zip (759 KB)

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 2.5.17 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 7b98dcb824ea96c9c62362a5e80dbf0d1aae4770
Date: 2026-02-17T05:58:33.110Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.3.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.19045

Additional Information

This is making it harder to fix persistent issues with keyboard shortcuts after migrating from VS Code.

I tried to upload 4 screenshots but it allows only one. So I attached a ZIP. If that doesn’t work, please contact me.

This feature works in VS Code so I assume I am using it correctly.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

I tested in a clean profile with all extensions disabled.

PS> cursor –disable-extensions –user-data-dir C:\Users\█\AppData\Local\Temp

cursor with clean profile and extensions disabled - Inspect Context Keys
cursor with clean profile and extensions disabled - Inspect Context Keys1608×538 48.1 KB

(I also tested in my normal user profile. The result was the same.)

This is the result after invoking the Developer: Inspect Context Keys command and clicking a region of the Cursor UI.

Cursor - problem no output in developer tools console - Inspect Context Keys
Cursor - problem no output in developer tools console - Inspect Context Keys1250×1368 196 KB

Here is the result after doing the same thing in VS Code v1.109.4 (normal user profile) on the same computer.

VS Code - correct output - Inspect Context Keys
VS Code - correct output - Inspect Context Keys1818×1824 363 KB

4

Hey, thanks for the detailed report, including screenshots and testing on a clean profile.

This is a known issue. It’s been reported in this thread since mid-2024: Potential listener LEAK detected; Cursor API CORS Errors; - AND Inspect Context Keys Developer tool not working. The Inspect Context Keys command doesn’t print messages to the console in Cursor because of changes made during the VS Code based build process.

The team is aware. There’s no ETA yet, but your report adds more weight to the issue.

As a workaround, you can use a third-party extension with similar functionality: Editor Context - Visual Studio Marketplace. It lets you inspect context keys so you can write when conditions in your keybindings.

Let me know if this workaround helps for now.

5

Thanks so much for the quick and thoughtful reply.

I’m afraid the “Editor Context” extension does not help. The extension adds new context keys (that you could reference from the keyboard mappings when expression). I want to view existing context keys (i.e., see which keys are active, in order to better understand the keyboard rules).

I was trying to understand the list of when clauses and verify in which contexts each applies, in order to work around issues with the default keyboard map.

For anyone else who finds this, the partial workarounds I’ve found are:

  1. Try the Developer Inspect Context Keys command in VS Code. Caveat: That doesn’t help with context keys that are unique to Cursor, or UI elements that are different from VS Code.
  2. Command: Developer: Toggle Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting. That will show you every key that is pressed (as received by cursor), the command that results, and the rationale for choosing the command. Caveat: It doesn’t show every when context key active.
  3. Read the list of when clauses:
    when clause contexts | Visual Studio Code Extension API

None of these is an complete solution, but they may help.

7

Good catch about the Editor Context extension. You’re right, it solves a different problem. That was my mistake for suggesting it.

The workarounds you found are great, especially “Developer: Toggle Keyboard Shortcuts Troubleshooting”. It’s probably the closest thing Cursor has right now for debugging keybinding issues directly in the app.

I’ve shared this with the team. Your detailed report, and the workarounds you described, really help us prioritize. I’ll post an update here if I hear any news.

10

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