Projects: Unable to access background worker agent terminals

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

CMD+J or (CMD+T → Terminal) opens the project coordinator agent’s Terminal, even when a background worker agent is the active tab.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Start a new project and have it spawn a worker agent
  2. Open the worker agent’s tab so the first tab is the coordinator and the second is the worker
  3. Select the coordinator agent tab and hit CMD+J (opens a terminal for the coordinator agent)
  4. Select the worker agent tab and hit CMD+J again (also opens a terminal for the coordinator agent

Expected Behavior

new terminal should be tied to agent for the active tab. switching tabs should switch to a terminal in the agent of the active tab

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.20.21
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: f09fca384ceca23f7bf21f9c23655b162641d740
Date: 2026-09-13T19:02:51.781Z
Layout: Agent Window
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 42.10.0
Chromium: 148.0.7778.280
Node.js: 24.18.1
V8: 14.8.178.38-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Darwin arm64 25.6.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

6

Hey @mgyarmathy-pgahq, thanks for the report and the clear steps.

This is how Projects work today, not something specific to your setup. The right-hand panel (Terminal, Files, and Desktop) stays attached to the project’s coordinator. Selecting a worker tab changes the conversation, but it does not move that panel onto the worker’s machine, so Cmd+J still opens the coordinator’s terminal. If the worker is on its own machine, that terminal cannot see the worker’s files.

Two ways to reach a worker in the meantime:

  1. Select the worker’s tab and click Open Desktop, just above the prompt. That opens that worker’s desktop in the right panel, and there’s a terminal in the dock at the bottom of it.
  2. Ask the worker in its tab to run the command. Its shell runs on its own machine.

If Open Desktop doesn’t show up on your worker tabs, let me know and I’ll dig in.

7

Makes sense. Thanks for offering the workaround!