Last reviewed
Correct answer: D. The parent history alone, as hidden context; copying messages and subagents is what forking a conversation does.
Explanation
The principle — Forking and opening a side chat are different operations. A fork copies the parent conversation, messages and subagents included. A side chat only seeds the model with the parent history as hidden context, then runs as its own thread.
Why the key is correct — Because a side chat copies context rather than the conversation, subagents running in the parent stay in the parent, and the side chat is where you ask about them without crowding that thread.
Why the others are wrong — The running subagents do not come along, which is the difference from a fork. Nor does the side chat start blind; the parent history is there, only hidden. And it is never rendered in the transcript, so an empty-looking thread is expected.
Remember this — A fork copies the conversation; a side chat borrows its history.
Sources — Cursor's Side chats documentation.
Sources
“Forking creates a full copy of the parent conversation, including all messages and subagents. A side chat only seeds the model with the parent history as hidden context.”
Practise 10 questions on this topic
Take Cursor AI Features — Timed Test 1 (10 questions) — scored instantly, explanation for every question, no login.