Using Cursor daily and while it’s great for many things, I keep running into limitations.
What features would make your workflow 10x better?
Title: Show elapsed time indicator while agent is working
Problem:
When using Agent mode for complex tasks (CI monitoring, multi-file refactoring, codebase exploration), responses can take anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes depending on the number of tool calls. There’s currently no way to see how long the current response has been running. I often lose track of time and can’t tell if the agent is making progress or stuck.
After a response completes, the elapsed time is shown – but that’s too late to be useful for time management during a session.
Proposed solution:
Display a live elapsed timer (e.g. 0:42) next to the “Stop” button or the thinking/tool-call indicator while the agent is actively generating a response. The timer should:
- Start when the request is submitted
- Update every second
- Remain visible as the final elapsed time after the response completes (this already exists)
Why this matters:
- Helps gauge whether a task is progressing normally or taking unusually long
- Makes it easier to decide when to stop and redirect the agent
- Useful for estimating cost/time of recurring workflows (e.g. “this type of query usually takes ~2 min”)
- Low-effort UI addition – the infrastructure already exists since elapsed time is shown post-completion
Mockup:
[Thinking...] ⏱ 1:23 [■ Stop]
or integrated into the existing progress indicator area.
Better debugging flow. Instead of just suggesting fixes, it would be great if it could systematically narrow down issues, like checking assumptions step by step rather than jumping to conclusions.
A chrome extension so I can speak to agents without having to leave Chrome. Am currently building something like this for myself