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

Support Bug Reports
22

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?

23

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

24

yay!

25

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

26

Finally uncovered a solution for MacOS users here:

First you need to install Karabiner Elements

Then enable events modification for your current keyboard:

CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.20.08@2x
CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.20.08@2x2138×1362 316 KB

Then add a complex modification rule by clicking this button:

CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.20.56@2x
CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.20.56@2x1304×392 35.3 KB

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.

CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.21.58@2x
CleanShot 2025-03-04 at 11.21.58@2x2128×390 45 KB

27

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.

28

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

29

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 !!!

30

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

31

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!

32

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

33

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
34

@civitaspo

where to get the 0.47?

35

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

36

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.

37

Isn’t something wrong again in 0.47.8?

38

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.

39

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.

40

confirmed fixed in

0.48.8
7801■■■6824585b7f2721900066bc87c4a09b740
arm64

keyboard shortcut:

    {
        "key": "cmd+n",
        "command": "-composer.createNew",
        "when": "composerFocused || focusedView =~ /^workbench.panel.aichat.view/"
    },
41

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?