Bug in the Remote Containers Extension

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1

If you attempt to build a devcontainer that points to a docker-compose.yml the Remote Containers extension will crash if none of the docker services in the docker-compose.yml file need to be rebuilt.

3

Hi there!

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

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  • Cursor IDE
  • Cursor CLI
  • Background Agent (GitHub, Slack, Web, Linear)
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Steps to Reproduce
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  1. …
  2. …
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Expected Behavior
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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

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Request ID: f9a7046a-279b-47e5-ab48-6e8dc12daba1
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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
  1. Cursor IDE (Dev containers extension)
  2. If you attempt to build a devcontainer that points to a docker-compose.yml the Remote Containers extension will crash if none of the docker services in the docker-compose.yml file need to be rebuilt.
  3. Open up this folder (cursor-bug-demo/repro-json-parse-issue at master · Fan-Pier-Labs/cursor-bug-demo · GitHub) locally in cursor and attempt to open in container a few times in a row
  4. It should open successfully every time
  5. It fails many times
  6. Attached a video recording
  7. MacOS
Version: 2.4.23

VSCode Version: 1.105.1

Commit: 379934e04d2b3290cf7aefa14560f942e4212920

Date: 2026-01-29T21:24:23.350Z (1 day ago)

Build Type: Stable

Release Track: Default

Electron: 39.2.7

Chromium: 142.0.7444.235

Node.js: 22.21.1

V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0

OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0
  1. None
  2. NA
  3. NA
  4. Sometimes, but it crashes ~50% of the time. Pretty annoying
9

Hey, thanks for the report.

To help me debug faster, can you send the logs from the Output panel? When the crash happens:

  • CMD + Shift + P > Developer: Show Logs
  • Pick “Extension Host” or “Dev Containers”
  • Copy the error that shows up when it crashes

This will help us figure out what’s breaking while parsing the docker-compose config after the services are already built.

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Logs: github (dot) com / Fan-Pier-Labs/cursor-bug-demo/blob/master/repro-json-parse-issue/shorterror.log

repro repo: github (dot) com / Fan-Pier-Labs/cursor-bug-demo/blob/master/repro-json-parse-issue/

try building the dev container in this repro repo a few times and let me know if you can reproduce it. There’s some other log files in the same directory there too.

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