In Projects, agent-produced Shared context notes and repo source files are two different file sources. Switching between them is painful: with a note tab open, + → File fails; with a repo file open, there’s no clear UI to browse notes—only chat deep-links. This hurts day-to-day Project workflow.
Steps to Reproduce
A — Notes → repo files
Open a Project.
Open a Shared context note (e.g. click an agent link to something like habit-mint-unnatural-accumulation.md).
With that tab still open, click + → File, expecting the repo file tree.
Actual: nothing happens; the file tree does not appear.
Close the notes tab, then click + → File again → the repo tree works.
B — Repo files → notes
Open any in-repo source file in the Project.
Try to browse Shared context notes for that Project.
Actual: no clear entry point (sidebar / + menu / tree switcher).
The only reliable path is clicking a link from the agent chat.
Expected Behavior
+ → File (or an equivalent) should always open the repo file tree, whether the active tab is a note or a repo file.
There should be a stable UI to browse / switch to Shared context notes (similar to how Canvases are discoverable), without depending on chat links.
Project work often means comparing agent Shared context with repo code. Forcing “close the tab / jump from chat” breaks flow and makes Projects much harder to use.
Hey, thanks for the detailed report with a screenshot and steps. That really is an awkward flow, I’ve shared it with the team.
What’s happening is that + → File doesn’t open the repo tree directly. It reopens the last file tab you used. When the last active tab is a context note, its side panel shows the notes tree, not the repo tree. That’s why it looks like nothing happens, and closing the note seems to “fix” it.
For now there are two workarounds:
To open a repo file while a note is open, press Ctrl+P in the Agents Window and type the file name. Once you open any repo file tab, the Browse Files panel will show the repo tree again.
To browse notes without jumping from a chat link, press + and choose Context (this option shows up when you’re inside a Project). It will open the Project / User context notes tree.
Can you confirm if Context appears in the + menu inside a Project, and if you can open a repo file via Ctrl+P? That’ll help us check whether anything else is different in your case.
Thank you for your reply and solutions. The issue arises just as I expected.
The two methods you mentioned can indeed temporarily resolve the current problem. Regarding the first method, I need to remember this shortcut to locate my repository files. However, not everyone can recall the exact filenames; they may only remember approximate paths. Even though I am a programmer, I have not reached that level.
The second approach is viable, and I do have the corresponding ‘Context’ button.
All in all, I feel the entire workflow may confuse users. I want users to be able to freely and accurately browse both the repository file tree and the file tree within Context. As a professional programming IDE built on VS Code, I believe this is very important for Cursor.
I hope this logic can be designed to be sufficiently clear and easy to understand.
Quick update on this one. A fix for + → File not opening the repo tree while a context note tab is active has landed and will be included in an upcoming version of Cursor (3.21). Once you’re on that version, + → File should take you straight to the repo file tree even with a note open, so the Ctrl+P detour won’t be needed anymore.
For browsing notes while a repo file is open, + → Context remains the way to reach the Project / User notes tree for now. Your feedback about making it easier to move between the two trees has been passed along to the team.
Let me know if you still see + → File misbehave once you’re on the newer version.
Apologies, I gave you the wrong version earlier. The fix did not make it into the 3.21 releases, so what you are seeing on 3.21.16 is expected. It will be included in the next major version (3.22), which has not been released yet.
