I see some confusion between two different concepts in Cursor. Let’s clear it up.
Automations vs Subagents, what’s the difference
Automations (what you showed in the screenshot):
- These are cloud agents that run based on triggers like a schedule, a GitHub event, a Slack message, etc.
- Each automation runs a task and then finishes
- They aren’t designed for continuous 24/7 work, it’s an event-driven system
- They can have memory between runs, but the agent is not running all the time
Subagents (what you most likely need):
- Specialized agents that the main agent delegates tasks to
- You create them as
.mdfiles in.cursor/agents/ - They work inside a single agent session in the IDE, CLI, or Cloud Agent
- Great for coordinating CEO, CMO, and Operations roles
If you want a hierarchical multi-agent system where a CEO coordinates CMO and Operations:
- Use subagents, see the showcase: Multi-Agent Orchestration in Cursor - Coordinating Specialized Agents
- Create
.cursor/agents/ceo.md,.cursor/agents/cmo.md, etc. with roles and instructions - The CEO agent delegates work to the specialized subagents
- Official docs: Subagents | Cursor Docs
Why they stop after about 2 minutes:
Automations aren’t designed to run continuously. They run per trigger and then exit. It’s not a bug, it’s the architecture.
A couple questions so I can help more precisely:
- What exactly are you trying to automate, what’s the task?
- Do you truly need a 24/7 process, or is it enough for agents to run on events like a new PR, a Slack message, or on a schedule?
Share the details and I’ll suggest the right setup for your use case.