UX feedback: restore one-click MCP status + independent Chat/Editor themes

Ideas Feature Requests
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1

Feature request for product/service

Cursor IDE

Describe the request

Two related UX issues that hurt day-to-day developer workflow.

1. Restore one-click MCP / Rules / Hooks status access

After the Customize consolidation, MCP / Rules / Hooks were removed from the Settings sidebar and moved under Customize.

For many users, MCP is not a one-time setup page — it’s an ops surface. I regularly need to check:

  • whether MCP tools are actually working
  • whether a server is disconnected / hung / needs re-auth
  • Rules / Hooks status without digging through nested UI

The current path takes more clicks and is much less discoverable. After the move, it wasn’t obvious where these settings went.

Please consider:

  1. A one-click entry back to live MCP status (Settings sidebar, status bar, or Command Palette e.g. “MCP: Show Server Status”)
  2. A live status indicator (connected / error / needs auth) without opening the full Customize page

Operational tooling should be reachable in seconds, not buried behind multi-step navigation. When an MCP server silently fails, agent quality drops and debugging becomes guesswork.

2. Independent themes for Chat vs code editor

Currently Chat and the code editor must share the same Color Theme. This conflicts with a common developer workflow:

  • Editor → Dark: better contrast for syntax, diffs, and error highlighting
  • Chat → Light: easier to read long prose, docs, and agent reasoning

Forcing one theme on both surfaces creates a constant tradeoff.

Please support:

  • Separate themes for Chat/Agents UI vs the code editor, or
  • At least an independent light/dark toggle for Chat

These are different reading tasks and deserve different presentation.

Happy to provide screenshots, Cursor version, or a Request ID if helpful. Thanks for considering this.

Operating System (if it applies)

MacOS

5

Hey, thanks for the detailed feedback. Both points are valid.

On MCP: there’s actually a fast path already, it’s just not obvious after the move to Customize. Open the Command Palette with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P and type mcp or Open MCP Settings. That jumps straight to the MCP tab, without going through all the Customize categories. You can also bind your own shortcut for one-click access. The live server status connected or error is partly shown already in the MCP rows in the composer or tray. What we don’t have yet is a separate status bar indicator for MCP, and live status for Rules and Hooks. I passed that to the team as a request, it’s already on the radar.

On separate themes for Chat vs editor: I get the idea. Code and prose are different kinds of content, and they need different reading setups. Per-surface theming is something we’re exploring. I can’t share an exact timeline, but I passed this along as feedback.

If the MCP workaround doesn’t work on your side, message me and we’ll figure it out.