Docs gap: Opening links in Browser Tab (chat vs reproduction-steps vs MCP)

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Docs gap: Opening links in Browser Tab (chat vs reproduction-steps vs MCP)

Agents and users repeatedly hit confusion about which links open in Cursor’s embedded Browser Tab vs external Chrome. We traced it empirically:

  • Full http://127.0.0.1:… / http://localhost:… links in main chat → Browser Tab (with Tools & MCP settings)
  • Same URLs inside debug <reproduction_steps> blocks → often external Chrome
  • Relative paths and scheme-less hosts → external browser
  • Agent browser_navigate MCP → Browser Tab

Suggest a single doc page under Agent → Browser documenting all paths, settings (Browser Automation, Show Localhost Links in Browser, Chat browser icon), and the reproduction-steps exception. Optional product fix: make reproduction-steps links respect the same Browser Tab setting.

Draft write-up: Cursor docs draft: Opening links in Browser Tab (chat vs reproduction-steps vs MCP) · GitHub

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This is a good docs gap because it affects debugging habits, not just documentation neatness.

If the same localhost URL opens in different places depending on whether it came from chat, reproduction steps, or MCP, users will assume the browser integration is inconsistent. Even a small routing table in the docs would make this much easier to reason about.