Agent hangs indefinitely

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

the Cursor agent gets stuck indefinitely on “Editing index.html…” and never completes the operation, and the file is never actually written (verified with ls -la from Terminal).

Already checked, no luck:

  • Ask and Agent modes
  • Sandbox on and off (Run Everything Unsandboxed)
  • Network: Network Diagnostics all green
  • status.cursor.com: operational
  • Plan usage: only 8%
  • Cleared cache, uninstalled and reinstalled the app
  • Restarted the Mac and updated macOS
  • Full Disk Access enabled for Cursor
  • Manual test: touch from Terminal in the same folder works fine

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open a new project/folder in Cursor
  2. Open a new chat in Agent mode
  3. Ask the agent to create a simple file, e.g. “create an html file that says hello”
  4. The agent shows “Thought briefly” followed by “Editing index.html” (or “Creating a simple HTML file…”)
  5. The operation stays stuck on “Editing index.html” indefinitely and never completes

Expected Behavior

The agent should complete the file-edit operation within a few seconds, show a confirmation message (e.g. “Edited index.html” with the content diff), and the file should actually be present on the filesystem, verifiable via ls -la from Terminal.

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.18.9
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: 2ba48ff3f7514cc4643c52ca9f7b3173d9b66130
Date: 2026-08-27T01:42:22.092Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Darwin arm64 25.6.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Auto

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

Hey @chiaramazzeo
This isn’t anything on your Mac, and green Network Diagnostics doesn’t fully rule out a network cause here (those are quick checks, while the agent runs on a longer-lived connection that can still stall). A few things to try, in order. Let me know which one changes it:

  1. Cursor Settings → Network → set HTTP Compatibility Mode to HTTP/1.1, then fully quit (Cmd+Q) and reopen, and retry.
  2. Still stuck? Try a different network (a phone hotspot is the fastest test), and switch off any VPN or iCloud Private Relay while you test.
  3. Still stuck? Relaunch with extensions off: /Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/MacOS/Cursor --disable-extensions, then retry.

More here: Network, proxy, and remote connections | Cursor Docs

If none of those help, tell me which step you reached and whether you’re on Wi-Fi, a hotspot, or ethernet (plus any VPN or security software you run), and I’ll dig in from there. We’ve let the team know.

Hi Mohit,

Thanks for your reply!

I’ve already gone through all the suggested troubleshooting steps (HTTP/1.1 mode, testing on both Wi-Fi and a phone hotspot with no VPN/private relay, and launching with --disable-extensions), but unfortunately, the agent is still stuck.

I have also tried switching from the Auto model to a specific one (like Opus) manually, creating the file first using the Terminal and then asking the agent to edit it instead of creating it, and checking if the issue occurs with a brand new empty folder in a location like ~/Work rather than Desktop or Documents.

I’ve already contacted support, provided the full logs and my Request ID (47a12b34-ea6f-4451-b2af-a4828be11f4f), and the team is currently looking into it. Gemini suspects the issue might be related to using my institutional email, even though it worked fine until recently.

I’ll keep you posted if we find a fix!

With HTTP/1.1, a hotspot, and --disable-extensions all making no difference, it’s not the network or third-party extensions. That leaves the built-in part of Cursor that runs file/shell actions locally not completing them, which is why it sits on “Editing” and nothing gets written (--disable-extensions doesn’t cover that built-in host).

Two things to pin it down:

  1. Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) → Developer: Restart Extension Host, then retry in a new chat.
  2. If it still hangs, at that moment grab View → Output → the Extension Host and Agent channels, plus Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console, and paste them (here or on your support ticket).

Also, since you mentioned an institutional setup: is this a managed Mac with corporate security/EDR, or a networked home directory? Either can block local execution with the network otherwise fine. I’ll get this and your Request ID to the team alongside your ticket.

I just wanted to update you that I followed some instructions that I found on the Cursor forum and the problem disappeared.

The steps I followed were:

  1. Fully quit Cursor Cmd+Q and opened it again.
  2. Opened a new chat in Agent mode, asked “List the files in this folder” and wait about 60 seconds.
  3. Opened Cursor Settings in IDE window, found “Terminal: Select Default Profile” and then selected “bash”.
  4. Fully restarted Cursor, and repeated step 2. It magically worked!

I attach here the topic on the Cursor forum that I followed: Local agents fail to start while Cloud Agents work fine

Also, the request ID of the running chat: e173c1bf-4bd6-49d8-a741-42fd930fbade

What do you think about it?

Thanks again for your help,

Chiara