Mode switching from plan to agent does not work

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Hi.

I’m experiencing a bug where the mode chosen in the UI is out of sync with the mode of the agent.

If I use ask or plan mode and then switch to agent mode (manually or by clicking build on a plan) the agent still behaves like it is on plan or ask. I have to switch to ask mode, write a dummy message and then switch to agent mode to get it to build.

It very frustrating and costly as well as it puts in an extra prompt in the cycle every time.

Steps to Reproduce

Scenario 1: Plan mode > ask cursor to plan something > Switch to agent mode > ask it to build

Scenario 2: Plan mode > ask cursor to plan something > Press build

Expected Behavior

The agents behavior should align with the selected mode in the UI

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.46
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ab326d0767c02fb9847b342c43ea58275c4b1680
Date: 2025-12-02T03:59:29.283Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 23.5.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

GPT-5.1

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

2

Hey, thanks for the report - this is a known issue, we’re already tracking it. Build from Plan/Ask should always run in Agent mode, so the behavior is incorrect.

Could you please share:

  • Request ID from the affected chats (Chat menu → Copy Request ID)
  • Screenshots of the agent’s “thoughts” showing it’s “thinking” it’s in Plan/Ask
  • Errors from the console (Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console)

Temporary workarounds:

  • Run Build in a new chat (without switching modes in the same context)
  • Or explicitly tell the agent: “you’re in Agent mode now, please implement the plan”

I’ll attach your case to the existing ticket. Also let us know if it reproduces on another model (e.g., Sonnet 4.5) and in a new work session.