Switching Between Modes

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I mainly use two modes in the chat i.e. Agent and Ask

  1. Ask to ask anything related to codebase or discuss stuff before making any changes to the codebase.
  2. Agent to make subsequent changes decided in ask mode.

Problem: Switching between the two modes within the same chat can sometimes be buggy, if i go from ask to agent, sometimes the model still thinks i am in ask mode and doesnt make changes in code. I can’t use different chats because i use ask mode to build up context.

Steps to Reproduce

Open a chat in any codebase. Try using ask first, then switch to agent mode and see if it works. Somtimes it will other times it will remain in ask mode.

Expected Behavior

Proper switching

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

Version: 2.5.25
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 7150844152b426ed50d2b68dd6b33b5c5beb73c0
Date: 2026-02-24T07:17:49.417Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.17.0-14-generic

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Auto

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

4

Hey, this is a known issue. The mode UI can get out of sync with what the model actually receives when you switch Ask and Agent in the same chat.

Two workarounds that work:

  • Open a new chat Ctrl+I and pick Agent mode right away instead of switching in an existing chat.
  • If you want to keep context, you can tell the model directly in your message: “You are in Agent mode. Edit the files directly.” This usually wakes it up.

The team is aware. Similar reports for reference:

Let me know if the workaround helps.

5

A post was merged into an existing topic: GPT-5.4 thinks its in ask mode even in agent mode