Cursor Agents vs Editor Layouts

You’re running into two different Cursor windows, not two skins of the same one. That’s why the Agent-layout toggle gets you close and then stops.⁠Forum.cursor

What’s actually different

Cursor 3 has two workbenches:

Your ChatShare windowThe new “portal calendar” windowWhat it isAgents Window (agent-first UI)Editor Window (classic IDE) with Agent layout turned onTitle barSlim: File / Edit / View / HelpFull VS Code menus: Selection, Go, Run, Terminal, HelpGiveaway“New Chat”, repos list, Design Mode / Commit in the chat footerBlue Agents Window pill, editor tabs, Terminal/Problems panelSidebarSessions / chats / reposSame idea, but sitting inside the IDE chrome
The ChatShare screenshot is the dedicated Agents Window. The other one still has editor tabs (Cursor Settings, VS Code Settings, the Simple Browser), a bottom panel, and an “Agents Window” button in the title bar — that’s the Editor Window wearing an Agent layout.⁠Cursor

Those are not the same code path. Cursor staff have said Agent vs classic editor used to be two separate layouts; the Editor’s “Agent layout” is only an approximation. It will never fully clone the Agents Window.⁠Forum.cursor

Why Ctrl+Shift+N did this

In current Cursor, Ctrl+Shift+N from the Agents Window means “Open Editor Window”, not “new window, same UI, other project.” That’s documented in the forums and matches what you got: a second project inside the IDE, defaulting to Editor layout until you flipped the setting.⁠Forum.cursor

“Agent default layout” / “Editor default layout” only chooses how that Editor Window arranges panes (Agent / Editor / Zen / Browser). It does not turn an Editor Window into an Agents Window.⁠Cursor

How to get the familiar layout on a second project

Option A — stay in the window you already like (intended 3.x flow)

The Agents Window is built as one hub across repos. Your ChatShare sidebar already lists other projects (airbary, heads-up-yyc, etc.). Open or switch the second project there instead of spawning a new desktop window. Multi-workspace is an Agents Window–only feature.⁠Cursor

Option B — a second Agents Window, not a second Editor Window

• Open the other folder (File → Open Folder, or a new empty window then open the folder).

• Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) → Open Agents Window (not New Window / not Ctrl+Shift+N).

• You can keep Agents Window and Editor Window open at the same time; Alt+Tab between them.⁠Forum.cursor

From an Editor Window the same command is Open Agents Window. The reverse is Open Editor Window / Open IDE.⁠Cursor

Option C — if you must live in Editor Windows

Use the layout switcher: Ctrl+Alt+Tab (Windows) cycles Agent / Editor / Zen / Browser. Set Default Layout in Cursor Settings so new Editor Windows open the way you want. That still won’t match ChatShare exactly.⁠Cursor

Short version

You didn’t fail to copy a layout. Ctrl+Shift+N opened the IDE, and Agent layout is only a costume for that IDE. The arrangement you’ve internalized is the Agents Window. Open that surface again for the second project (or keep both projects inside the one Agents Window) and the chrome should match.

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You’re right about two Agents Windows: Cursor only allows one. Opening it again just focuses the existing one. That’s current product behavior, not something you missed.⁠Forum.cursor

“Multi-workspace” is real, but it does not mean two independent projects each get their own full Agents UI at the same time. There are two different features with similar names.

What “multi-workspace” actually is

The Agents Window is one hub. Every project you’ve used shows up in the left sidebar (your ChatShare shot already has Chatshare, heads-up-yyc, airbary, etc.). You can:

• keep chats for both projects alive in that list

• run agents on both at once

• pin the ones you care about so they stay at the top

The window still has one main stage. Switching projects is clicking another repo/chat in that sidebar, not opening a second window. That’s the “across all your projects from one place” line in the docs.⁠Cursor

What “multi-root workspace” is (usually not what you want)

Since Cursor 3.2, one agent session can target a workspace made of several folders — frontend + backend + shared lib — so the agent can edit across repos without you retargeting it.⁠Cursor

That’s for related codebases that should share one conversation. Binding ChatShare and the portal calendar together would mix two unrelated trees, indexes, terminals, and previews. Worktrees and cloud agents are also limited inside multi-root sessions.⁠Agentpatterns

If you still want that combined workspace:

• New Agent → project picker

• Hover the On This PC row

• Turn on Select Multiple

• Check both folders, name the workspace, Done

(File → Add Folder to Workspace in an Editor Window, then save a .code-workspace, is the older VS Code path. The Agents Window picker still prefers folders over opening a .code-workspace file directly.)⁠Forum.cursor

Closest you can get to “both open”

You can’t get two full Agents Windows. Practical options:

• Same Agents Window, two chats visible Start (or pin) one chat per project, then use Agent Tabs / side-by-side or tiled panes so both conversations stay on screen. Staff’s dual-monitor advice is exactly this: multiple projects in one Agents Window + split panes.⁠Forum.cursor

• Agents Window + Editor Window Keep the familiar Agents UI on project A. Ctrl+Shift+N / Open Editor Window, open project B there, park that IDE on the other monitor. You can have Agents Window and Editor Window at the same time; you just can’t have two Agents Windows.⁠Forum.cursor

• Don’t merge the repos unless a change actually spans both.

So: both projects can live in the same Agents Window and run in parallel. They cannot each own a separate Agents Window, and multi-root will not give you two isolated “homes” — it glues the folders into one session. For two unrelated apps, split panes in one Agents Window, or Agents + Editor on two screens, is as simultaneous as Cursor gets today.

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You didn’t break the project — two panes just moved. In the “screwed up” shot, chats became editor tabs and the terminal became a right-hand panel. The older shot is: agents list left → chat → browser → terminal along the bottom.

Do these in order.

1. Put the terminal back on the bottom

In the right-hand TERMINAL header:

• Right-click the word TERMINAL → Panel Position → Bottom or View → Appearance → Panel Position → Bottom

If that menu isn’t there:

• Ctrl+Shift+P

• Run View: Toggle Panel Position until it lands on the bottom or View: Reset View Locations

You should get the strip back: Problems / Output / Terminal / Ports / Debug Console.

2. Stop chats from opening as editor tabs

That’s why you see tabs like Interactive portal calendar design and Venue creation form error instead of the agents list.

• Ctrl+Shift+J (Cursor Settings)

• Search Open Chats as Editor Tabs → turn it Off

• Search Default Location (under Agents) → set to Pane, not Editor

Close those chat editor tabs (Ctrl+W on each). The conversation should return to the side pane.

3. Bring the agents list back on the left

That’s the column with Search Agents / New Agent / Last 7 Days.

Try, in this order:

• Ctrl+B — primary sidebar

• Ctrl+I or Ctrl+L — agent/chat side panel

• Ctrl+E — flips agent sidebar left/right (you want it left)

• Top-right layout/gear icons → pick Agent layout

• Ctrl+Alt+Tab until you’re on Agent

Command Palette backups:

• View: Show Primary Side Bar

• View: Move Primary Side Bar Left

• Switch to Agent Layout / View: Switch Layout

4. If it’s still a mess

Ctrl+Shift+P → View: Reset View Locations → Developer: Reload Window

Then set Agent layout again and move the panel to the bottom. Reset only restores pane positions; it doesn’t delete chats.

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Target shape:

[Agents list] [Current chat] [Browser]

[ Terminal panel ]

Once it looks right, open the top-right layout/gear menu and save/set that as the default so the next Editor Window doesn’t drift again.

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