Git Submodules Don't Appear in Version Control Tab

[arthurpi (Arthur)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Git submodules don’t appear in the version control tab at launch - typically only the main repository appears. Once any file from a given submodule is opened, the submodule appears correctly in the version control tab. Repositories with nested submodules or with a number of submodules require manually opening a number of files in the editor before version control information is displayed - making seeing changes, pulling, etc. more difficult. Cursor’s behavior is different from VSCode behavior in this instance.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a repository with multiple submodules. Make sure that no files were opened by Cursor.
2. Click the Changes (Version Control) tab.
3. Note that only the root repository is shown in the repository list.

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.50 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 56f0a83df8e9eb48585fcc4858a9440db4cc7770
Date: 2025-12-06T23:39:52.834Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.0.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. Most likely the git.detectSubmodules setting got turned off. It sometimes resets after updates.

Try turning it on:

• CMD+, > search for git.detectSubmodules
• git.repositoryScanMaxDepth > try a value of 3 or 4

After making changes, Reload Window.
Let me know if this helped.