[MacOS]Please fix keyboard shortcut to CursorDown for Ctrl-N in composer

I have updated to version 0.46 and tried to use Ctrl + n to move the cursor down in the chat field, but it creates a new chat as well. (All the prompt text disappears.) I’m really having trouble with this behavior. Can you please fix it so that I can use Ctrl + n to move the cursor downwards?
Japanese users have created the following article for a first-aid solution.

Cursor Editor Ctrl+N conflict issue

Please could you respond to this?

2 Likes

@ericzakariasson Ctrl-N still an issue in 0.46 :crying_cat_face:

1 Like

yay!

Same here. quite annoying for not being able to use macos/unix native shortcut

Finally uncovered a solution for MacOS users here:

First you need to install Karabiner Elements

Then enable events modification for your current keyboard:

Then add a complex modification rule by clicking this button:

Paste the following rule in the text area and click save:

{
    "description": "Map Ctrl+N to Down Arrow in Cursor",
    "manipulators": [
        {
            "conditions": [
                {
                    "bundle_identifiers": [
                        "^com\\.todesktop\\.230313mzl4w4u92$"
                    ],
                    "type": "frontmost_application_if"
                }
            ],
            "from": {
                "key_code": "n",
                "modifiers": {
                    "mandatory": ["left_control"],
                    "optional": ["any"]
                }
            },
            "to": [{ "key_code": "down_arrow" }],
            "type": "basic"
        }
    ]
}

You should see this new rule added and you are ready to go. From now on, Ctrl + N will be remapped to arrow down key in Cursor but remains the same in other applications.

we’re moving away from cmd+n in 0.46, so hopefully should be resolved!

Thanks for your effort !! :blush:

I am now on version 0.46.8 macOS arm64.

The issue is mitigated but still problematic.

  1. Now, Ctrl+N does not start a new chat. Instead, it clears all text in the chat dialog. Fortunately, cmd+Z can retrieve the cleared input.
  2. In Agent mode or edit mode, Ctrl+d still does not work. it closes the chat interface, but the wished behavior is to delete one character at the blinking cursor.

Anyhow, I wish this could be completely fixed in future and thank you very much.

The root cause could be cursor mis binding the cmd and ctrl in macOS

1 Like

Can you cursor engineers review your key bindings map in windows and macOS separately ?
Isn’t there any engineer in Cursor company using emacs-like shortcut when coding ? That is rather not efficient !!!

1 Like

please fix this, I keep resetting the chat when trying to navigate through the chat list. this really hurts the UX

1 Like

This shortcut behavior is tooooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrating for more than 2 months already.
This looks ridiculous for a macOS user.
If your engineer don’t understand macOS and still don’t want to learn, please make a change!
If your boss don’t want macOS users’ satisafaction, we will leave absolutely!

1 Like

Please fix this keybinding issue, please.
I’m also facting this issue.

버전: 0.46.11
커밋: 1.96.2
날짜: ae378be9dc2f5f1a6a1a220c6e25f9f03c8d4e10
Electron: 2025-03-07T06:43:50.208Z
ElectronBuildId: 32.2.6
Chromium: undefined
Node.js: 128.0.6613.186
V8: 20.18.1
OS: 12.8.374.38-electron.0

1 Like

Finally, it looks like this issue has been resolved in Cursor 0.47! In my environment, by adding the following configuration, pressing CTRL+N no longer triggers composer.createNew!

    {
        "key": "cmd+n",
        "command": "-composer.createNew",
        "when": "composerFocused || focusedView =~ /^workbench.panel.aichat.view/"
    },

(I’m not sure why removing the CMD+N shortcut ends up disabling the CTRL+N shortcut.)

My environment details are as follows:

❯ cursor --version --verbose
0.47.1
aafb3fe1326c939656bd06f325a9e17679aeec70
arm64
4 Likes

@civitaspo

where to get the 0.47?

the Ctrl+N still defaults to create new composer in 0.47, add this config in > ~/Library/Application\ Support/Cursor/User/keybindings.json
finally works:

{
        "key": "cmd+n",
        "command": "-composer.createNew",
        "when": "composerFocused || focusedView =~ /^workbench.panel.aichat.view/"
    }

cursor --version --verbose
0.47.5
53d6da1322f934a1058e7569ee0847b24879d180
arm64

0.47 seems a temporary solution of the keyboard shortcut problem, since I can’t have ctrl-n for cursorDown and cmd-n for createNew at the same time!
After all, this solution solved a big problem by involving a small problem.

Isn’t something wrong again in 0.47.8?

Thank you for the information. While it’s not an ideal solution (since it disables cmd+n entirely), it’s at least a workable option.

Are there any plans on fixing this? It’s a very annoying bug. I’ve also noticed something like this happening in other places in the app, I think cmd/ctrl are used interchangeably for cursor shortcuts instead of being platform specific.

confirmed fixed in

0.48.8
7801■■■6824585b7f2721900066bc87c4a09b740
arm64

keyboard shortcut:

    {
        "key": "cmd+n",
        "command": "-composer.createNew",
        "when": "composerFocused || focusedView =~ /^workbench.panel.aichat.view/"
    },

I’d like to add my voice that this is an extremely annoying problem! With considerable help from perplexity, I found the above work-around and it works for me. But that’s after lots of frustration – my fingers have known ctrl-n as down for 30 years. And now I’ll miss cmd-n for new chat.

Cursor is usually so great about quick upgrades. Why has this one received hardly any attention?