Normal chat: @ context only works for open / recently used files

[luccmattos (Lucas Mattos)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Hey everyone — is anyone else seeing this?

In the normal Cursor window (not a special Agent-only window), @ for workspace context is unreliable.

If a file is already open, or was recently attached as context, it often shows up in the @ picker.
For anything else (e.g. typing @playbook for a folder/path that exists in the project but isn’t open/recent), the list doesn’t load. I mostly just get “+ Add new doc”, with no normal workspace file/folder autocomplete, even though the placeholder says: “Plan, Build, / for skills, @ for context” — so @ is the intended way to attach files/folders. / is for skills, not the file tree.

Expected: @ should search/list workspace files and folders, not only open/recent ones.

Actual: open/recent → sometimes works; otherwise → no project files, mainly “+ Add new doc”.

Anyone else hitting this? Any workaround that still uses @ for local files that aren’t open or recently used?

Steps to Reproduce

Type @ in a chat to load/list workspace files and folders.

Expected Behavior

Expected: @ should search/list workspace files and folders, not only open/recent ones.

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.12.17 (Universal)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: 0fb762053c34788bb7760d5673f8a6d4c8589d50
Date: 2026-07-17T02:53:53.006Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.256
OS: Darwin arm64 25.5.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[kevinn (Kevin Neilson)]

Hi @luccmattos Thanks for the post! Here’s what’s likely happening. The @ picker fills in two ways: a quick list of your open and recently-used files that shows up right away, and a separate full-workspace search for everything else. The full search respects your ignore and exclude settings, so files or folders covered by .gitignore/.ignore or by files.exclude/search.exclude get skipped, while open and recent files come from that quick list and bypass those rules. That’s why open/recent stay reliable but the broader search can come back empty. Folders also only appear once a matching file inside them is found, so an empty or fully-ignored folder won’t surface on its own.

I HIGHLY recommend using the Agents Window because (as you noticed) the File mentioning is more reliable and allows you to drill down into exact subfolders where the IDE doesn’t always let you do that.

I did a quick demo here to test and noticed a few things:

• Empty folders are not recognized
• Drilling down into subfolders appears to only be supported in the Agents View. In the IDE, I could only select / mention the main enclosing folder.