[Megathread] Cursor layout and UI feedback

[leerob (Lee Robinson)]

Hey everyone, Lee from the Cursor team. Consolidating a few threads here to talk about the Cursor layout and feedback/suggestions on how we can improve the UI.

Summarizing some of the things you all said:

• There were a few comments about the agents/editor toggle in the top navigation bar. We’ve since removed this in favor of customizable layouts. Our goal here is to make it easy for you to customize your default layout, and which panes you want open. In the top right, we now have the ability to change your default layout and panes (settings gear) + save it for the future and persist. We are also working to add keybindings here to switch between views.

• There were comments around the update process and UI being changed. I apologize if this disrupted your workflow. We recently made some improvements to how you can work with agents in the Cursor view, and there’s an onboarding that is shown to help you configure the default layout. If you prefer using the classic editor view, and don’t use agents, you can keep the existing layout similar as your preferred option. I do want to acknowledge there was a bug where the sidebar position was flipped, sorry about that. We have fixed that in the latest release.

• There were some issues with how you can create new chats + create new files. We fixed a bug related to when the new file keybind was triggered, which will be included in the next update (in case you saw cmd+n create a new agent when you expected a new file).

• There were questions about the chat history functionality. When you are using the editor focused layout, with the agent on the side, there is a clock icon that shows the chat history. If you instead use the agent layout, then there is both a search bar on the side + the ability to scroll through the list of conversations (versus the dialog menu).

It’s very important for us to make the UI easy to use and stable for professional use. Whether you’re a developer who writes all code by hand, or uses some AI autocomplete with Tab, or does coding using agents, we want to make sure Cursor works well for you.

Our goal is to build a tool for professional engineers. If we do that well, we believe it will make programming more accessible for more and more people. However, our core focus is on building power tools for developers who are coding every day (similar to how we use Cursor to build Cursor).

Thank you and we’ll keep working to make this better! We have some other ideas for how to make layouts and the UI even more customizable in the future. We’re also aiming for further stability and performance improvements for the next Cursor release.

[jrista (Jon)]

There has also been a lot of commentary about how disruptive, buggy, laggy and problematic the new diff/review mode has been. I don’t see that mentioned in your post above. Can you comment on that as well? Frankly, the diff/review feature has been the single most disruptive thing for me, since Cursor 2.0 came out, and it continues to disrupt my daily work since it was made the default option when you click any changed file for review. I’ve noticed a lot of commentary about that, it seems to be frustrating a lot of users. Many of us desperately want the option to completely disable that feature as it is SO disruptive and does not work well. I’d love to hear your plans there, as I think this is critical.

[Artemonim]

It would be great to consistently receive feedback on complaints.

I have bug reports that have been ignored and automatically closed, even though the problem was not resolved. And I also have active bug reports and issues that are being ignored by the site staff. It turns out that I’m paying money for a service that I can’t fully use, and I’m not even receiving support.

[asfktz (Asaf)]

We are also working to add keybindings here to switch between views.

Please do!

I love the idea of defining a custom layout like Agent + File Explorer.
The only reason I don’t use it is that there is no keyboard shortcut to activate custom layouts. The mental model I wish for custom layouts is that they can represent different states in the workflow.

Planning Idea / Reading Agent “Ask” response (Agent full screen)
Planning multiple file refactoring (Agent + File Explorer)
Coding (Editor + File Explorer)
Reading Plan (Editor full screen)

Currently, I manually toggle things, but it gets messy when moving between Agent and Editor. I believe custom layouts can solve it by resetting the layout state.

[krl (ken)]

I am going to be kind as i can cuz momma always said, “Use your words”

I am 5 tantrums away from looking elsewhere. I find it frustrating to have layout and all kind of changes push down, sometimes without adequate warning or consideration to how a user might be affected. I get it you all our trying to innovate. But golly, i have to spend an hour trying to figure out how to get my layout back. Surely i missed the nice memo explaining the change and how we could preserve any semblance or our previous layout, or perhaps i missed the button that said, we are improving these … press okay to accept? Sarcastic and truly sorry, I have rarely ever taken advantage of a forum to vent and perhaps could do better. But I think Cursor team that you could also do better with these rollouts and consideration on how disruptive some of these changes are and how they are communicated. If I have been missing the memo, my apology. I do love what cursor has allowed my to do over that last 8 months. Remaining hopeful and positive. Thank you for your kind attention.

[jrista (Jon)]

“we are improving these … press ok to accept?” YES! At a BARE MINIMUM!!!

They really need to switch to an opt-in model, and ideally, they need to let new features simmer under feature flags/opt-in switches for a good while, and perhaps leverage some A/B testing as well, long before they actually replace existing functionality with new, untested, half-baked functionality. The approach of just shoving half-baked (and I really do mean HALF-BAKED, so many of the new features since 2.0, including the 2.0 release, have been incomplete, poorly tested, buggy, unstable, poorly designed, etc.) new features onto their entire user base, they need to be first testing before shipping to the world, then when shipped to the world, ALLOW OPT-IN, and maybe only for a B-test group first to see how the new features track, before opening up access to the feature to the entire user base. Then, once opened, it should STILL be under an opt-in switch, and not immediately and overtly replace all the functionality the user base is familiar and comfortable with.

The diff/review functionality, DESPERATELY needed the above approach, and needs a permanent opt-in switch. I’ll leave that switch off forever, I can’t stand this approach to reviewing code changes, and yet since it was made the primary mode for review, I’m stuck with it unless I can force my thouroughly-pre-programmed muscle memory to do CTRL+CLICK. This is NOT the way to design, test, verify, and vet new features.

[kurtontheway (Kurt)]

Hi Cursor team,

I’d like to bring attention to a persistent and frankly frustrating issue that’s been affecting my workflow with every single update.

**The Problem:**

Every time Cursor updates, it completely disregards my carefully configured Editor mode layout preference and forcibly resets the default layout back to Agent mode. This happens without fail, update after update.

**Why This Matters:**

1. **User preferences should be respected** - I deliberately chose Editor mode for a reason. It suits my workflow, my muscle memory, and my productivity patterns.

2. **Consistency is key** - Having to reconfigure my layout after every update breaks my flow and wastes valuable time that should be spent coding, not fighting with IDE settings.

3. **This feels like a dark pattern** - While I understand you want to promote Agent mode, overriding explicit user preferences repeatedly comes across as pushy and disrespectful of user choice.

**What I Expected:**

When I set my default layout to Editor mode, I expect that preference to persist across updates. This is standard behavior for any professional development tool.

**What Actually Happens:**

Update → Agent mode forced → Manual reconfiguration required → Repeat ad nauseam

**Request:**

Please fix this so that user-configured layout preferences are properly persisted and respected across updates. If there’s a technical reason why this keeps happening, I’d love to understand it, but ultimately, my settings should remain my settings.

I genuinely appreciate Cursor and use it daily, which is precisely why this recurring issue is so aggravating. A tool this powerful shouldn’t be undermining user autonomy with every update.

Thanks for listening, and I hope this can be addressed in an upcoming release.

[NazmusSayad]

Infinitely agree, I mistakenly opened the agent mode… I had to waste around 15 minutes just to find out how I could go back to editor mode. I had to go to Cursor’s own ■■■■■■■■ settings UI and click Editor from there.

[mwz]

Yeah, and now trying to click the send prompt button you get to fight with the agent thing popping in and covering button. Infuriating much

[_Felix]

Yes…I just switched projects and now the view has completely changed. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to show my normal view again.
And now the agents extra window keeps auto sliding out on mouse over the right side of the screen. I don’t even need this window, why does it keep forcing into view?

There used to be a button toggle for Agent / Editor, now this is buried in settings. This makes no sense.

[ryanontheinside (Ryan)]

Well said, totally agreed

[bui]

I’m on Ubuntu. I end up losing my layout. Not sure how to get back into IDE mode. Also the footer shortcuts are gone (probably because I’m not in the ide mode). This has been happening every update and yesterday my cursor crashed and forced me into agent mode then lost all my chats for workplace/repo I was using.

[FE_Daily]

YES, The layout should define by user.

[MidnightOak]

Agree 100%. Also Double Arrow Button Has Different Behavior

[jrista (Jon)]

Stop resetting ANY settings every new release! I am so sick and tired of having to reconfigure the settings I WANT AND NEED, every single day! Every day, there is a new release. Every day, my settings get reset, and I’m shoved back into agent mode. This is ridiculous! LEAVE MY SETTINGS ALONE! PLEASE!

[RafeSacks]

Cursor really needs an “Experimental” or “Labs” settings section so the community can A/B and give feedback opt-in …assuming they want to know thoughts before people get mad …even if it launched in an alternate experimental build with information for test feedback, I would be happy to try it when I have time and give feedback on things.

[VIRUXE (Flávio Pereira)]

This is slowly turning into Windsurf - not testing before release.

[99power]

Please no automatic layout shifts or modes after update! #itsourchoice

[IAkumaI (Valerii)]

Today It did this even without an update. Just when I opened a new window. Even more, it changed sidebar position in editor mode to right side as default. And event fcking more, now it does not remember sidebar position between windows…I hate this.

I’ found the setting “workbench.sideBar.location” which was set to “right” somehow (it’s not me)