When I use an active agent conversation (e.g. agent updates a document), Cursor shows an unread count “1” and a red badge on the macOS Dock (the icon bar at the bottom where the Cursor app icon sits). That badge is not for the active conversation. To clear it I have to open archived agent conversations one by one until I open the specific one that holds the unread state; only then does the red dot disappear. This has happened repeatedly.
Steps to Reproduce
Have one active agent conversation (A) and several archived agent conversations (B).
Use the active conversation A (e.g. ask the agent to update a document).
Observe: Cursor shows unread “1” and red badge on the Cursor icon in the macOS Dock.
The badge does not clear when viewing A. Open archived conversations in B one by one until the badge clears when a particular archived conversation is opened.
Expected Behavior
The unread badge should reflect the conversation in use, or archived conversations should not keep an unread state that shows on the app icon. The badge should not require hunting through archived chats to clear.
Hey, thanks for the detailed report. The issue makes sense. The unread badge state in the Dock is being tracked in archived chats instead of the active one, which is why you get the “I have to dig through the archive to clear it” behavior.
One question. Does this happen every time you use an active chat with the agent, or only sometimes? And about how many archived chats do you usually have?
1. Does this happen every time you use an active chat, or only sometimes?
I’m always working in the current active chat, not switching between archived ones. The red dot still appears from time to time. To clear it, I have to open the active chat list and click through the chats one by one until the dot disappears. In several cases it was the 4th or 5th chat when the list is sorted by archive time (newest to oldest). Once it was around the 10th or so. I’m not sure if it’s related, but I suspect it might be when the current chat and one of those listed chats both touched the same file (e.g. document A).
2. About how many archived chats do you usually have?
For my latest project I have around 80 archived chats. I’d like to remove the old ones, but there’s no bulk delete—only one-by-one—so I’ve left them as is. That might be making the “which chat has the badge” behavior harder to track.
Thanks for the detailed replies, that really helps clarify things.
The unread state leaking into archived chats, especially when they share affected files with an active chat, is definitely a bug. I’ve flagged this to the team.
On bulk deletion of archived chats, that’s a fair point too. Right now you can only delete them one by one, and when you’re managing 80+ chats, this badge issue clearly makes it worse.
Let me know if anything changes, or if you notice a pattern in which archived chats are picking up the badge.
The “key” archived chat isn’t always file-related.
I had one archived chat that was very short (only 3 back-and-forth messages), with no file opens or edits—just plain Q&A. Yet that chat was the one that actually cleared the red-dot badge when I opened it. So the badge can be “tied” to an archived chat that never touched any files.
Possible position pattern.
In my archived list, the 4th chat is often the one that clears the badge when opened. Not sure if that’s coincidence or something to do with ordering.