Shell commands executed through Cursor’s terminal tool are failing with syntax errors related to bash evaluation, even when using clean environments.
Error Details
Error Message
--: eval: line 17: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `)'
--: eval: line 18: syntax error: unexpected end of file
--: line 1: dump_bash_state: command not found
Reproduction Steps
Execute any command through Cursor’s run_terminal_cmd tool
Error occurs regardless of command complexity
Error persists even with:
env -i /bin/bash -c 'echo "test"'
sh -c 'echo "test"'
Simple commands like docker --version
Investigation Results
User’s ~/.bashrc is syntactically correct (no issues found)
Error occurs even when bypassing user’s bash configuration
Error suggests issue with Cursor’s shell wrapper/execution environment
The dump_bash_state command is not defined in any user configuration files
Expected Behavior
Commands should execute normally through Cursor’s terminal integration.
Actual Behavior
All commands fail immediately with the above error messages.
Files Checked
/home/ubuntu/.bashrc - No syntax errors found
/home/ubuntu/.bash_profile - Standard configuration
/etc/bash.bashrc - Standard system configuration
No references to dump_bash_state found in user or system configs
Suggested Fix
The issue appears to be in Cursor’s shell execution wrapper, not in user configuration. The dump_bash_state function or command appears to be referenced but not properly defined or loaded.
I am now unable to reproduce the problem. I was working in an EC2 VM over SSH, but since have both restarted the VM and restarted Cursor. I don’t believe it was an issue with an extension, but possibly an issue with my ~/.bashrc.
This issue has been happening a lot lately. Not only does it mess up the workflow, it burns unnecessary tokens because the AI starts trying to find work arounds that can sometimes unintended consequences.