How to use Cursor Agent mode: start a repo task and review diffs

Open Agent, assign one bounded repo task, then read the diffs yourself before anything stays.

The repo is already open in Cursor. You want the model to work — without accepting a stack of unread diffs. Official help calls this path Agent mode: start a chat, give one repo task, then read every file it touches.

The searchable job is how to use Cursor Agent mode: open the Agent panel, stay out of read-only Ask, write a bounded task, and decide in the diff view what stays. Shortcuts and review steps below follow cursor.com/help/ai-features/agent.

Pick the mode that is allowed to edit

One pass: start, assign, review

1. 01
   Open the Agent panel

   In a folder that is already a git repo, press Cmd+I (Mac) or Ctrl+I (Windows/Linux). Confirm the picker says Agent. Start a new chat if the last thread was a different job. Official help: each mode has its own context; a fresh chat is cleaner when the task changes.

2. 02
   Give one bounded repo task

   Name the outcome, the files or area, and how you will know it worked. Example: add a null check in src/auth/session.ts and run the existing unit test. Do not paste five unrelated chores. The official example is one concrete request.

3. 03
   Watch the diff view

   Press Return. Agent explores, then applies edits as it works. Files open in the diff view. Hit Stop if it leaves the folder you named. Queue a follow-up; it waits until the current run finishes.

4. 04
   Review, then keep or reject

   Read added and deleted lines. Reject hunks you do not want. Hover an earlier message and use Restore Checkpoint to roll back file changes after that point — the chat remains. Run your tests yourself; a green line in the agent log is not acceptance.

Add a guard in src/auth/session.ts so a missing
user id returns 401. Do not touch the billing
folder. Run the existing session unit test and
stop if it fails.

Where first tasks usually break

The panel was on Ask

No files change. Switch to Agent with Shift+Tab or the mode picker, then send the same prompt again.

The prompt named no boundary

Agent will search widely. Name the directory, the test, and what it must not edit.

You accepted the whole stack

Reject stray files. Check deletions. If the shape is wrong, restore a checkpoint instead of stacking a second rewrite on a bad patch.

One task, one chat, then read the diff. The accept button is not a review.

If two people need to agree on a refactor before anyone ships, put the file list and the risky hunks on one page. A short oakmeet room is enough — browser, a space code, no account. Room limits are in eight people, about an hour.