Search failing to find terms in workspace (Works correctly in VS Code)

[arseniomuanda (Arsénio Muanda)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Hi everyone,

I’m encountering a discrepancy between Cursor’s global search and VS Code’s search performance. When searching for a specific string (e.g., .email-compose-btn), Cursor fails to return results from the workspace, while VS Code finds them immediately.

Steps to Reproduce

I am a Head of Technology currently developing a startup solution, and consistent indexing is vital for my workflow. It seems Cursor is restricting the search scope to “open editors” by default or failing to index the full project directory despite the files being part of the workspace.

Technical Details:

Files involved: .css, .md.

Search query: .email-compose-btn.

Questions:

Is there a specific configuration in Cursor that forces search into “Open Editors” only mode by default?

Why is the indexer not picking up these files when the standard VS Code engine does?

I have attached the comparison screenshots for reference. Any help would be appreciated!

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.2.21 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 806df57ed3b6f1ee0175140d38039a38574ec720
Date: 2026-05-03T01:46:14.413Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.8.1
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.4.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[arseniomuanda (Arsénio Muanda)]

VS CODE

CURSOR

[deanrie]

Hey, this isn’t a bug. In the Cursor screenshot, the hint clearly says: No results found in open editors. That means the search is limited to open tabs only.

In the Search panel toolbar, the Search only in Open Editors toggle is enabled the three dots icon. Click it to turn it off, and search will run across the whole workspace, like in VS Code.

This is inherited VS Code behavior, not something Cursor-specific. In your VS Code screenshot, that toggle is just off, so it immediately found both matches in tidy-hugging-karp.md and email.css.

Let me know if it still can’t find anything after turning it off.