New Chat button (+ sign) is missing. Cannot open a new chat

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Today I updated my cursor (through update popup) and noticed I cannot find the new chat button nor can I use CTRL + N to open a new one.

Steps to Reproduce

Just go to the chat window and try to open a new chat tab.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.2.36 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 55c9bc11e99cedd1fb93fbb7996abf779c583150
Date: 2025-12-18T06:25:21.733Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

Hey, thanks for the report. The + button to create a new agent is in Editor mode, not in Agent mode. This is a known UI change.

To create a new agent, switch to Editor mode in one of these ways:

  • Press Ctrl+E to quickly toggle between modes
  • Or open Cursor Settings and switch there

After switching to Editor mode, you’ll see the + button next to the chat again.

You can also use Ctrl+N or Ctrl+T to create new agents.

Hey all - this button became the new pencil button in the titlebar, but we’ve heard the feedback. We had a few updates that caused a lot of frustration, so we’re toning down the changes and apologize.

The + button will come back to where you expect it.

Thanks heaps!!! The + button came back in the next update - huge relief!!!

1 Like

It just occurred to me - someone must have had spare time on their hands to waste when taking away this + feature in the first place - can you maybe get them to do things we ask for, like Submit prompt with control+enter in composer - #52 by AndersRHZ instead of removing things we need?

1 Like

That’s great that we can change to editor mode to see the + button again, by why is the “Switch to Agent Layout” button in the header a one way dead end? It’s like you purposely want users to get stuck in agent layout.

That same arrow button, in Agent Layout, doesn’t even switch you back to Editor layout, instead it just switches the side that the agent is on. I mean it’s the same exact button, and it does two different things. Surely it must be a bug? If I hadn’t found this thread and the keyboard shortcut, I would probably still be stuck in Agent layout.

Can someone explain this? Why do you want to force users into the Agent layout? In this same update you also removed the Agent/Editor toggle buttons that were next the file menu. While I did not agree at all with displacing the most widely standardized menu in all of software (> File), at least we had a clear and clickable UX for switching between these overarching modes.

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