Cannot open Excalidraw files

[jimbojw]

Describe the Bug

Until recently, the Excalidraw extension was working within Cursor. Sometime in the last few days, something must have changed. Now, when I try to open any *.excalidraw file, it just spins with an indeterminant progress bar. (The Excalidraw toolbar never appears, just a blank white tab with no content under the progress bar.)

Possibly a regression of this? Cannot start Excalidraw extension

Excalidraw version: 3.9.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Excalidraw extension.
2. Create a new *.excalidraw file. (File → New…)
3. Attempt to open the new file for editing.

Expected Behavior

Editor tab for file should load the Excalidraw UI.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Linux

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.3.10
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: af6d64e4848e6185e482a2de5bac040191c8d790
Date: 2025-12-29T03:56:22.219Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.12.59-1.qubes.fc37.x86_64

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[jimbojw]

Just updated. Still broken in 2.3.14.

```
Version: 2.3.14
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: b3e9fe6c37659159fc2dec9ae643d74c25e5d0d0
Date: 2025-12-29T23:26:25.365Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.12.59-1.qubes.fc37.x86_64
```

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report. I can see the file opens in the main editor area, but you only get a blank white screen instead of the Excalidraw UI.

Could you help with a quick diagnosis?

1. Open DevTools (Help → Toggle Developer Tools)
2. Go to the Console tab
3. Try opening the .excalidraw file again
4. Take a screenshot of the Console. There should be errors there.

Also try this:

• CTRL+Shift+P → “Developer: Open Extension Host Process Monitor” and check whether the Excalidraw extension is running
• CTRL+Shift+P → “Developer: Show Logs” → select “Extension Host”. You might see extension load errors there.

For now, I’d recommend a workaround: switch the layout to “Editor”.

[jimbojw]

Here’s what shows up in my console on boot. Attempting to open an Excalidraw file results in no new entries.

I have uninstalled/disabled all extensions other than Excalidraw and Vim, so I don’t know where those ms-python etc. warnings are coming from.

[deanrie]

Thanks for the extra info. I’ll pass it to the team.

[noor (Noredeen Al-Zu'bi)]

hi @jimbojw. looking into this.

[noor (Noredeen Al-Zu'bi)]

we’ve identified the root cause and are working on a fix. thank you for the patience!

[noor (Noredeen Al-Zu'bi)]

@jimbojw the fix has landed in nightly and will be out to stable soon. let us know if you run into any new issues.