MCP Tool Stuck on "Waiting for Approval..." with no Approve option

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

When I ask the AI to use MCP tools like microsoft/playwright-mcp, it enters a ‘Waiting for Approval…’ state. However, only a ‘Cancel’ option is shown—there are no ‘Approve’ or ‘Deny’ buttons to actually grant permission.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Ask the AI to use an MCP tool.
    Example:
    “Use the microsoft/playwright-mcp tool to take a screenshot.”

  2. Watch for the approval prompt.
    The AI will show: “Waiting for Approval…”

  3. Look for approval options.
    You’ll only see a “Cancel” button.
    The “Approve” and “Deny” buttons are missing.

  4. Result:
    The request stays stuck. The tool cannot run because there’s no way to approve it.

Expected Behavior

Either the AI should proceed to use the tool as instructed, or a clear interface with “Approve”/“Deny” buttons should be provided to authorize the request.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Screenshot 2026-02-02 at 12.11.43 AM.png
Screenshot 2026-02-02 at 12.11.43 AM.png688×1322 49.1 KB

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.4.22
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 618c607a249dd7fd2ffc662c6531143833bebd40
Date: 2026-01-26T22:51:47.692Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.2.7
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 23.6.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Auto

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

3

Hey thanks for the report. This is a known issue with the MCP UI approval in version 2.4.x. The Approve/Deny buttons don’t render, even though the approval process runs in the background. The team knows about it - several users have reported this over the last week.

Try this workaround for now:

  1. Cursor Settings > Agents > Auto-Run Mode
  2. Switch to “Auto-Run in Sandbox”
  3. This will run MCP commands automatically in an isolated environment without prompts

Alternative is “Use Allowlist”, but it might have the same UI issue.

If the workaround doesn’t help or you need more detailed permission setup, let me know. I’ll pass more details to the team.

Similar threads: Waiting on approval to run a mcp command but no button or prompt to approve, Waiting for approval bug

4

Happening for me as well. I enabled “auto-run in sandbox” but still persisting :face_with_diagonal_mouth: