After a recent update, I’ve noticed that the Chat panel’s behavior has changed. Now, each new chat opens in a separate tab, and multiple chat tabs are displayed side-by-side, similar to the main editor.
Previously, the UI would only show the most recent chat, and starting a new chat would replace the view of the old one. I found this single-view mode much more convenient and would like to revert to it.
I have already tried changing the standard VS Code setting by adding "workbench.editor.showTabs": false to my settings.json. While this successfully hides the tabs for my open code files in the editor pane, it does not affect the Chat panel – it still shows multiple tabs.
Is there a specific setting for Cursor’s Chat panel to disable this tabbing behavior and restore the old “single chat view” mode? Or has this UI been changed permanently?
Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Here is a screenshot of the current UI that I’m referring to:
Thank you for the quick reply, @midnightoak , and thanks to @condor for the original suggestion.
I appreciate you pointing me to the “Open Chat as Editor” setting. I’ve enabled it and can see how it helps with tab navigation by giving them more space.
However, my main goal is to avoid the tabbed interface for chat altogether. The issue I’m facing is the creation of multiple, persistent tabs for each new chat, which I find clutters the workspace. The screenshot below shows the result after trying your suggestion—the tabs are now in the editor pane.
What I am hoping to restore is the previous behavior where only one chat is visible at a time. When I start a “New Chat”, I would like it to replace the current chat view, not open alongside it. For reviewing past conversations, I prefer to use the “Show Chat History” functionality, which feels more organized.
To clarify, is there a setting that can force chat to operate in a “single view mode” (i.e., no tabs), regardless of whether it is in the side panel or the editor?
That’s great to hear! Thank you so much for the clarification and for letting me know that a replacement is in the works. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the team comes up with. Keep up the great work!
