I had Cursor configured to use only GPT-5.5 and Codex 5.3 in Settings > Models. I also had a hard $50 spending limit. When that limit was reached, Cursor did not stop. It automatically added/enabled Grok and Opus 5 above my selected models and switched to Grok without my permission.
I need Cursor to fail closed when my selected model or budget is unavailable. Do not add, enable, or route to unapproved model providers automatically.
This is not a small matter of choosing which flavor of ice cream for dessert. Some organizations have standards and prohibit the use of products marketed by evil companies and people like Musk/SpaceX/Grok. If Cursor insists on trying to force my company to fund the worst people on Earth, I will have to terminate my business with you.
Steps to Reproduce
I had Cursor configured to use only GPT-5.5 and Codex 5.3 in Settings > Models. I also had a hard $50 spending limit. When that limit was reached, Cursor did not stop. It automatically added/enabled Grok and Opus 5 above my selected models and switched to Grok without my permission.
I need Cursor to fail closed when my selected model or budget is unavailable. Do not add, enable, or route to unapproved model providers automatically.
This is not a small matter of choosing which flavor of ice cream for dessert. Some organizations have standards and prohibit the use of products marketed by evil companies and people like Musk/SpaceX/Grok. If Cursor insists on trying to force my company to fund the worst people on Earth, I will have to terminate my business with you.
Expected Behavior
stop. do not switch to unauthorized models. wait for me to update limits.
Hey there,
To be upfront: this is a bug on our side, not your setup. A model you’ve disabled in Settings > Models should never be auto-selected or silently switched back on, whatever your reason for turning it off. This is something we’ve seen reported over the past couple of weeks, and I’ve flagged your report with the team.
Here’s what’s happening. When you hit your usage limit, Cursor currently tries to keep you working by auto-switching to another available model instead of stopping, and right now that fallback lands on Grok. The bug is that the switch ignores your disabled-models list and flips the Grok toggle back on, which is exactly what you saw. This kind of auto-switch draws from your remaining included usage rather than charging past the on-demand spend limit you set, so it isn’t spending beyond your budget, but that doesn’t make it okay to put you on a model you explicitly turned off.
Opus 5 showing up is separate from the Grok switch: newly released models are turned on by default in everyone’s model list, which is why it appeared. You can toggle it back off in Settings > Models, and a model appearing in the list doesn’t mean anything ran on it.
On your core ask, a real “stop when my selected model or budget is unavailable” (fail-closed) behavior: there isn’t a setting for that today. I think it’s a very reasonable ask, and I’ve passed it along as feedback.
Until this is fixed, the workaround is to switch the model back to your choice and re-disable Grok in Settings > Models, though it can re-trigger the next time you reach the limit. I don’t have an ETA to share yet, but I’ll post here when I have an update.
## 1. Cursor Overrides Explicit Model Selection And Redirects To Unwanted Models
**Title:** Cursor repeatedly overrides my selected model and redirects to unwanted/disallowed models
**Product:** Cursor IDE / Chat / Agent / Plan mode
**Severity:** High, billing and trust issue
**Frequency:** Happened six times
**Description:**
Cursor has repeatedly overridden my explicit model choice and redirected the conversation to models I did not select and do not want used. This has happened six times.
This is not a minor UI preference issue. It directly affects billing, trust, and control over paid model usage. I selected a specific model, and Cursor switched away from that selection anyway, forcing unwanted models onto my account and wallet.
**Expected behavior:**
If I explicitly select a model, Cursor should keep using that model unless I manually change it.
Cursor should never silently switch to another model, especially a paid or unwanted model, without explicit user confirmation.
**Actual behavior:**
Cursor has switched models against my selection multiple times. The selected model was overridden and another model was used.
**Impact:**
This causes unauthorized usage of models I did not choose. It creates unexpected charges and makes Cursor impossible to trust for paid work.
**Request:**
Please provide a setting to hard-lock the selected model, and please investigate why explicit model choices are being overridden.
Thanks for the feedback. I was worried that this was intentional and there would be no solution. It’s a little like getting halfway there and realizing the ticket says “Titanic.” It appears there have been enough complaints to warrant an “alert” so I will wait and see what happens. Loving Cursor, but having several lover’s spats now. (see my bug reports)
On the billing worry from your latest note: this kind of auto-switch draws from your included quota, not the on-demand pool your spend limit caps. So while the switch itself is the bug, it doesn’t spend past the limit you set. And no need to re-file it. The repeated switches are all the same issue, and it’s already logged on our side, so nothing’s getting lost. I’ve also passed along your fail-closed / hard-lock request as feedback.
I don’t have an ETA to share yet, but I’ll post back here the moment there’s an update. I’ll do my best to keep this well clear of “Titanic” territory.
The fix for this is now live. When you disable a model in Settings → Models (like Grok 4.5), Cursor will no longer auto-switch to it or flip it back on when you hit a usage limit. Your disabled models stay disabled.
You’ll need to update to the latest version (3.13.25 or newer) to pick this up, since you were on 3.12.17. After the update, the behavior you reported shouldn’t occur again.
There’s also a new setting that helps here: Settings → Agents → Default Model. Set it to Last Used and new chats will always keep the last model you selected instead of Cursor picking one.
It all makes sense now. Once I stumbled on the fact that SpaceX had acquired Cursor last year, that made my Cursor problems much simpler. This was a fact that no one mentioned in any conversation with Cursor. The system was defaulting to Grok against my will because Musk. The system bills some api’s to the monthly subscription, and others separately because Musk. Problem solved. Moving to open source ai/ide tools VSCodium and Continue. So far, so good. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the ai charges via direct api seem to be tiny compared to the charges I was racking up with Cursor. For better or worse, I am free of the monster.
now, after disabling Grok 4.5, i got this message “Fallback Model Disabled: The suggested fallback model is disabled. Choose a different model to continue.”
I think if this is happening due to Elevated errors affecting Anthropic models We are investigating elevated errors affecting Anthropic models. Please see for more details.
Switching to Composer allowed me to proceed.
So
UX need to be improved to tell me why it’s trying to switch
I have the opposite problem. I want to use grok 4.5 because its really decent and really fast. I also have opus 5 in my configured models because i want to switch from time to time (opus is still better than grok for tricky stuff or for creativity). So, i want grok as my driver and opus as the specialist. What really happens is that without asking me, i often get autoreverted to opus which is expensive and slow when i really wanted to keep using grok because the problem is not that hard. This is getting on my nerves and its a SERIOUS break of UI principles. You ignore user choice without asking.
The fix that stops Cursor from auto-selecting or re-enabling a model you’ve disabled shipped in the 3.14 line, not 3.13.25. Please update to the latest Cursor version (3.14.7 or newer). After that, a disabled model shouldn’t get flipped back on when you hit a usage limit or start a new chat. The “Fallback Model Disabled” prompt is the intended new behavior when the suggested fallback is one you’ve turned off - pick another model to continue.
@Anton_Mostovoy - agreed that prompt could be clearer about why it’s trying to switch, and a configurable fallback would help. We’ll be tracking that feedback. Keeping Default Model on Cursor Default / Auto is fine; Last Used is only optional if you want stickiness.
@Arnd_Rosemeier - your case is the other direction (Grok selected, jumps to Opus, even after removing Opus). That shouldn’t keep happening on 3.14.7+ if Opus is disabled/removed. Could you share your Cursor version (Help → About), whether it flips mid-chat or on a new chat, and a Request ID from one of those turns (chat ··· → Copy Request ID)?
Elevated errors affecting Anthropic models We are investigating elevated errors affecting Anthropic models. Please see for more details.