Hey, thanks for the report. Your account is fine. This is how the Free plan works right now, it’s not something broken in your setup.
On Free without your own API key, the model picker is locked to one model. Right now that’s Cursor Grok 4.6 Medium with a lock icon. Auto and other models are available on paid plans, that’s what the Upgrade to unlock premium models window is about. Free used to have only Auto, but that changed, so what you’re seeing after switching from Pro is the current intended Free experience.
The lock doesn’t stop you from using Cursor. Cursor Grok 4.6 Medium runs on Free, and I can see your requests are going through fine.
If you want to pick Auto or other models yourself, you’ll need a paid plan like Pro. The picker unlocks right after you upgrade, no restart needed.
If you ever see a real error when sending a message, send a screenshot with the exact text and the Request ID (top-right corner of the chat > Copy Request ID) and we’ll take a look.
Similar thread with the same question: Can't switch to Auto in Free plan