Agent terminal tool hangs — every command returns "no exit status" (user's own terminal works fine)

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1

Title: Agent terminal tool hangs — every command returns “no exit status” (user’s own terminal works fine)

Environment:

  • OS: Windows 10.0.26200
  • Default shell: PowerShell
  • Cursor: (add your version — Help > About)

Summary:
The Agent’s shell/terminal tool is completely non-functional. Every command the
agent runs — including a trivial echo — returns “The shell command returned no
exit status, so its result is unknown.” No output file is created for the command.
The agent’s other tools (file read, grep, glob, file edits) work normally; only the
terminal tool is broken.

Key detail:

  • Running the SAME commands manually in a normal Cursor terminal works perfectly.
  • So this is specific to the Agent’s terminal integration, not PowerShell or the OS.

Persistence / things already tried (none fixed it):

  • Killed all integrated terminals and opened a new one.
  • Reload Window (Ctrl+Shift+P > Reload Window).
  • Fully quit and reopened Cursor.
  • Full laptop shutdown and restart.
  • Reproduces across ALL chats/conversations, not just one.

Impact:
Cannot build/compile a C++ project (MSBuild) or run any executable from the agent,
which blocks the entire workflow.

Expected: agent terminal commands execute and return output + exit code.
Actual: every agent command returns “no exit status” and produces no output.

2

Hi there!

We detected that this may be a bug report, so we’ve moved your post to the Bug Reports category.

To help us investigate and fix this faster, could you edit your original post to include the details from the template below?

Bug Report Template - Click to expand

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

  • Cursor IDE
  • Cursor CLI
  • Background Agent (GitHub, Slack, Web, Linear)
  • BugBot
  • Somewhere else…

Describe the Bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

Steps to Reproduce
How can you reproduce this bug? We have a much better chance at fixing issues if we can reproduce them!

  1. …
  2. …
  3. …

Expected Behavior
What is meant to happen here that isn’t working correctly?

Screenshots / Screen Recordings
If applicable, attach images or videos (.jpg, .png, .gif, .mp4, .mov)

Operating System

  • Windows 10/11
  • MacOS
  • Linux

Version Information

  • For Cursor IDE: Menu → About Cursor → Copy
  • For Cursor CLI: Run agent about in your terminal
IDE:
Version: 2.xx.x
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ......

CLI:
CLI Version 2026.01.17-d239e66

For AI issues: which model did you use?
Model name (e.g., Sonnet 4, Tab…)

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled
Request ID: f9a7046a-279b-47e5-ab48-6e8dc12daba1
For Background Agent issues, also post the ID: bc-…

Additional Information
Add any other context about the problem here.

Does this stop you from using Cursor?

  • Yes - Cursor is unusable
  • Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor
  • No - Cursor works, but with this issue

The more details you provide, the easier it is for us to reproduce and fix the issue. Thanks!

5

¿Dónde aparece el error (función/producto)? Cursor IDE

Describe el insecto: The Agent’s terminal/shell tool is completely non-functional. Every command the agent runs — including a trivial “echo” — returns “The shell command returned no exit status, so its result is unknown,” and no output file is produced. The agent’s other tools (file read, grep, glob, file edits) work normally; ONLY the terminal tool is broken. Critically, running the exact same commands manually in a normal Cursor integrated terminal works perfectly. So the problem is specific to the Agent’s terminal integration, not PowerShell, the shell profile, or the OS. This blocks the whole workflow: the agent cannot build/compile a C++ project (MSBuild) or run any executable.

Pasos para reproducirse:

  1. Open a workspace on Windows (default shell: PowerShell).
  2. Ask the Agent to run any terminal command (e.g. “echo test” or an MSBuild build).
  3. The command returns “no exit status, result unknown” and creates no output file.
  4. Run the same command manually in a normal Cursor terminal → it works fine. Already tried (none fixed it): killed all integrated terminals and opened a new one; Reload Window; fully quit and reopened Cursor; full laptop shutdown and restart; reproduces across ALL chats/conversations.

Comportamiento esperado: Agent terminal commands should execute and return their output plus an exit code, exactly as they do when run manually in a normal Cursor terminal.

Sistema operativo: Windows 10/11

Información de la versión: Version: 3.9.16 (user setup) VS Code Extension API: 1.105.1 Commit: 042b3c1a4c53f2c3808067f519fbfc67b72cad80 Date: 2026-06-27T06:41:01.941Z 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.256 Layout: glass OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200 Default shell: PowerShell

Para cuestiones de IA: ¿qué modelo usasteis? Claude (Agent mode). The failure is in the terminal tool, independent of the model.

Información adicional: Only the Agent’s terminal tool fails; all other agent tools work. The user’s own manual terminal in the same Cursor window works perfectly. The issue survives a full OS restart and happens in every conversation, which points to a broken agent-to-shell integration rather than an environment issue. Note the terminal uses xterm.js 6.1.0-beta.256 (a beta build), which may be related.

¿Esto te impide usar Cursor? A veces, a veces puedo usar Cursor

6

I can reproduce the same issue on Windows, and I found one additional clue that may help narrow it down.

Environment:

  • Cursor version: 3.9.16
  • OS: Windows 10.0.22631 / win32
  • Cursor Agent CLI from logs: 2026.07.01-41b2de7
  • Workspace: local Windows workspace
  • Shells tested: PowerShell, PowerShell -NoProfile, CMD, git

Observed behavior:
Normal Agent Shell calls all return:

```text
The shell command returned no exit status, so its result is unknown — do not assume it ran or succeeded.
```

This reproduces with trivial commands such as:

```cmd
cmd /c “echo agentshell-normal-test && exit /b 0”
```

and:

```powershell
powershell -NoProfile -Command “Write-Output ‘ps-noprofile-ok’; exit 0”
```

Important detail:
The same command succeeds when the Shell tool is explicitly invoked with `required_permissions: [“all”]`.

Successful result:

```text
agentshell-all-still-ok
Exit code: 0
```

So in this case the local shell itself is working. The failure appears to be in the default Agent Shell sandbox/permissions path.

Relevant renderer log lines:

```text
[MainThreadShellExec] $updateShellExecCapabilities: hostKind=1, expectedHost=1, isRemote=false, sandboxSupported=false, linuxKernelVersion=none

SandboxUnsupportedError: Windows sandbox helper only provides network proxy, not filesystem isolation
```

Things already tried, none fixed normal Agent Shell calls:

  • Restarted Cursor
  • Restarted Windows
  • Set terminal default profile to PowerShell with `-NoProfile`
  • Deleted/rebuilt `C:\Users\WUHAO\.cursor\cli-config.json`
  • Added `C:\Users\WUHAO\.cursor\sandbox.json` with:

```json
{
“type”: “insecure_none”
}
```

After restarting Cursor, normal Agent Shell calls still fail with the same `SandboxUnsupportedError`, while `required_permissions: [“all”]` still works.

It looks like the IDE Agent Shell may still request filesystem sandboxing even when `sandboxSupported=false` on Windows, or it is not honoring the `sandbox.json` / disabled-sandbox path for normal Shell tool calls.

Request ID: not available yet.

9

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. You described the environment and symptoms really well.

This is a known bug. On Windows, especially build 10.0.26200 with PowerShell, the v3 Agent Shell tool path sends the command but doesn’t get stdout or the exit code back, so the agent correctly shows “no exit status”. The integrated terminal isn’t affected. I can’t share an ETA for a fix yet.

A working workaround is to switch to the legacy terminal path:

  1. Settings → Agents → Inline Editing & Terminal
  2. Turn on Legacy Terminal Tool
  3. Start a new agent chat

On affected Windows builds, this reliably brings back command output. Let me know if it helped.

@Kragwa, thanks for the detail about required_permissions: ["all"] and SandboxUnsupportedError. That’s helpful, I passed it to the team. Legacy Terminal Tool should help in your case too, please check.