Primary Sidebar position resets to left on new window/project (v2.5.17)

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

The Primary Sidebar (which includes the AI Agent) does not persist its position on the right side. Even after manually moving it, the layout resets to the left every time a new window or project is opened. This has been an ongoing issue for several versions.

Steps to Reproduce

Open any project or folder in Cursor.

Move the sidebar to the right: View → Appearance → Move Primary Sidebar Right.

Open a new window (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) or switch to a different project.

Observe that the sidebar has returned to the left side in the new window.

Expected Behavior

The sidebar position should be a global setting that persists across all windows and new sessions once set to “Right”.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

13da4b08-3618-437c-bac4-96e270018806.png
13da4b08-3618-437c-bac4-96e270018806.png527×308 18.2 KB

Operating System

MacOS
Linux

Version Information

Cursor Version: 2.5.17

VSCode Version: 1.105.1

Commit: 7b98dcb824ea96c9c62362a5e80dbf0d1aae4770

Build Date: 2026-02-17

Additional Information

This issue occurs consistently on both Linux and macOS. It is a significant friction point for developers who prefer a right-side sidebar layout to prevent code jumping when the sidebar toggles.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Hey, this is a known regression. The team is already tracking it.

Try adding this to your settings.json (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P > “Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)”):

"workbench.sideBar.location": "right"

Then restart Cursor. You can also try Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P > “View: Toggle Primary Side Bar Position” to force the position to switch.

To be honest, this workaround doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s worth a try.

More context and reports from other users are here: Primary Side Bar forgets its position

Let me know if it helped.