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Research: cursor ai agent subagents

Research: cursor ai agent subagents

Date: 2026-02-20

Sources: 3

Sources

1. Subagents | Cursor Docs

URL: https://cursor.com/docs/context/subagents

Create specialized AI subagents for task-specific workflows and context management.

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Subagents

Subagents are specialized AI assistants that Cursor's agent can delegate tasks to. Each subagent operates in its own context window, handles specific types of work, and returns its result to the parent agent. Use subagents to break down complex tasks, do work in parallel, and preserve context in the main conversation.

You can use subagents in the editor, CLI, and Cloud Agents.

Context isolation

Each subagent has its own context window. Long research or exploration tasks don't consume space in your main conversation.

Parallel execution

Launch multiple subagents simultaneously. Work on different parts of your codebase without waiting for sequential completion.

Specialized expertise

Configure subagents with custom prompts, tool access, and models for domain-specific tasks.

Reusability

Define custom subagents and use them across projects.

If you're on a legacy request-based plan without Max Mode enabled, subagents run using Composer regardless of any model configuration. Enable Max Mode to use your specified model. Usage-based plans use the configured model by default.

How subagents work

When Agent encounters a complex task, it can launch a subagent automatically. The subagent receives a prompt with all necessary context, works autonomously, and returns a final message with its results.

Subagents start with a clean context. The parent agent includes relevant information in the prompt since subagents don't have access to prior conversation history.

Foreground vs background

Subagents run in one of two modes:

ModeBehaviorBest for
ForegroundBlocks until the subagent completes. Returns the result immediately.Sequential tasks where you need the output.
BackgroundReturns immediately. The subagent works independently.Long-running tasks or parallel workstreams.

Built-in subagents

Cursor includes three built-in subagents that handle context-heavy operations automatically. These subagents were designed based on analysis of agent conversations where context window limits were hit.

SubagentPurposeWhy it's a subagent

| Explore | Searches and analyzes codebases | Codebase exploration generates large intermediate output that would bloat the main context. Uses a faster model to run

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2. Cursor

URL: https://cursor.com/changelog/2-4

Agents are solving increasingly ... as well as many quality-of-life fixes in the editor and CLI. Subagents are independent agents specialized to handle discrete parts of a parent agent's task....

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Product → Enterprise Pricing Resources → Sign in Download 2.4 Jan 22, 2026 · Changelog Agents are solving increasingly complex, long-running tasks across your codebase. This release introduces new agent harness improvements for better context management, as well as many quality-of-life fixes in the editor and CLI. # Subagents Subagents are independent agents specialized to handle discrete parts of a parent agent's task. They run in parallel, use their own context, and can be configured with custom prompts, tool access, and models. The result is faster overall execution, more focused context in your main conversation, and specialized expertise for each subtask. Cursor includes default subagents for researching your codebase, running terminal commands, and executing parallel work streams. These will automatically start improving the quality of your agent conversations in the editor and the Cursor CLI . Optionally, you can define custom subagents. Learn more in our docs . # Skills Cursor now supports Agent Skills in the editor and CLI . Agents can discover and apply skills when domain-specific knowledge and workflows are relevant. You can also invoke a skill using the slash command menu. Define skills in SKILL.md files, which can include custom commands, scripts, and instructions for specializing the agent’s capabilities based on the task at hand. Compared to always-on, declarative rules , skills are better for dynamic context discovery and procedural “how-to” instructions. This gives agents more flexibility while keeping context focused. # Image generation Generate images directly from Cursor's agent. Describe the image in text or upload a reference to guide the underlying image generation model (Google Nano Banana Pro). Images are returned as an inline preview and saved to your project's assets/ folder by default. This is useful for creating UI mockups, product assets, and visualizing architecture diagrams. # Cursor Blame On the Enterprise plan, Cursor Blame extends traditional git blame with AI attribution, so you can see exactly what was AI-generated versus human-written. When reviewing or revisiting code, each line links to a summary of the conversation that produced it, giving you the context and reasoning behind the change. Cursor Blame distinguishes between code from Tab completions, agent runs (broken down by model), and human edits. It also lets you track AI usage patterns across your team's codebase. # Clarification questions from the agent The interactive Q&A tool used by agents in Plan and Debug mode now lets agents ask clarifying questions in any conversation. While waiting for your response, the agent can continue reading files, making edits, or running commands, then incorporate your answer as soon as it arrives. You can also build custom subagents and skills that use this tool by instructing them to "use the ask question tool." Improvements (29) ↓ ↑ Bug Fixes (14) ↓ ↑ Product → Enterprise Pricing Resources → Sign

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3. cursor-subagent-creator | Skills Marketplace · LobeHub

URL: https://lobehub.com/skills/tech-leads-club-agent-skills-cursor-subagent-creator

Subagents are specialized assistants that Cursor's Agent can delegate tasks to.

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cursor-subagent-creator | Skills Mar... · LobeHub Ctrl K cursor-subagent-creator 1 1.0.1 tech-leads-club Feb 20, 2026 Developer 1381 Agent teammates that grow with you Start using LobeHub today and join thousands of super individuals Get started for free Get the latest version… Overview Installation Method Resources Related Skills Version History Need help? View source code Report issue Summary This skill helps author Cursor-compatible subagents following Cursor best practices, templates, and directory conventions. Use it to create reusable, specialized assistants for complex multi-step workflows—such as verifiers, auditors, domain experts, or parallel workers—rather than one-off tasks. Key features include generating the markdown file layout with YAML frontmatter (name, description, model, readonly, is_background), placing files in .cursor/agents/ or ~/.cursor/agents/, and specifying isolated context, stepwise behavior, expected outputs, and output formats. It guides decisions about foreground vs background execution, model inheritance, and permissions. Typical use cases: splitting a pipeline into delegated subagents, creating long-running background processors, or building domain-specific verifiers. Core advantages are isolation of state, parallel execution, reusability across projects, and consistent, auditable subagent definitions. Related Skills View More resolve-pr-comments Nikola-Milovic Address GitHub PR review comments end-to-end, fetch unresolved review threads (via gh GraphQL), implement fixes, reply with what changed, and resolve threads using the bundled scripts. Use when asked to “address PR comments”, “resolve review threads”, or “clear requested changes”. 5 Developer Feb 20, 2026 26 n8n-skills nicepkg n8n workflow automation knowledge base. Provides n8n node information, node functionality details, workflow patterns, and configuration examples. Covers triggers, data transformation, data input/output, AI integration, covering 10 nodes. Keywords: n8n, workflow, automation, node, trigger, webhook, http request, database, ai agent. 113 Developer Feb 20, 2026 86 react-best-practices vaayne React and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering. This skill should be used when writing, reviewing, or refactoring React/Next.js code to ensure optimal performance patterns. Triggers on tasks involving React components, Next.js pages, data fetching, bundle optimization, or performance improvements. 53 Developer Feb 20, 2026 26 frontend-design AnswerZhao Transform UI style requirements into production-ready frontend code with systematic design tokens, accessibility compliance, and creative execution. Use when building websites, web applications, React/Vue components, dashboards, landing pages, or any web UI requiring both design consistency and aesthetic quality. 14 Developer Feb 20, 2026 24 adr atusy Manage Architecture Decision Records and ADR-aligned development. Use when user says "we should use", "let's go wit

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Summary

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