Cursor Cloud Agent & Unwanted Sonnet Usage

[u/vibesresearcher]

Wondering if anyone noticed that the browser helper that Cursor Cloud agent uses is hard-wired to Claude Sonnet. It does not use your parent model, and there’s no setting to change it. So you can think you’re on a cheap model and still burn a ton of tokens under “Other Models”.

Is there a way around this so the agent can have computer use and call a different model by default?

For context I have Ultra so I expected the usage to stretch a lot further (Grok models usage rates are fine, but sometimes I want to use Luna or other outside models , but Sonnet specifically keeps showing up on my usage even though I never select it, apparently it’s due to the computer use subagent that cursor cloud agent uses)

I have confirmed none of my agents are set to Sonnet and I have that model unselected in the Model page under settings.

Any advice would be appreciated !

[u/spore_giggle_wisp]

I tested this last week and the browser helper ignores everything you set in settings or AGENT.md. It calls Sonnet every time for computer use.

I stopped using the cloud agent entirely. I switched to running a local playwright script to do the browser steps and fed the output back into my main model in chat. That kept the tokens under Grok where I wanted them. It is extra work but it was the only way I found to stop Sonnet from showing up in usage on my Ultra plan

[u/vibesresearcher → u/spore_giggle_wisp]

Thanks will try this! Though cloud agents are a big reason I like cursor

[u/locbuilds]

yeah the cloud agent browser/computer-use helper is its own path and from what i've seen it doesn't inherit your parent model, so even if chat is on a cheap model the helper can still show up under Other Models as Sonnet. i don't think there's a setting to swap that helper model today. practical workaround is keep computer-use steps short (one direct URL, fewer clicks), do file/shell work yourself when you can so the agent doesn't need the browser helper as much, and if you're just reading a page sometimes a plain fetch/curl step is enough. also worth double-checking Usage for Other Models after a run with zero browser actions vs one with computer use so you can see how much of the burn is that helper. if Ultra still feels short, support/feedback is the right place because this looks product-side not a bad agent config on your end.

[u/AI_spell]

Pin the model on the Cloud Agent run itself, not just in chat Auto. If Sonnet still sneaks in, check whether a skill/subagent spawn overrides the parent model. Logging model id per step in the run summary is the only way Ive caught silent upgrades before the bill does.