Chat history conversation won't load - stuck on "Loading Chat" then opens new chat

Bug Reports
1

Describe the Bug

When clicking on a past chat conversation in the “Past Chats” panel (from several days ago), the chat panel shows “Loading Chat” indefinitely. After some time, instead of loading the conversation, it opens a new empty chat instead. The conversation is visible in the Past Chats list but cannot be accessed.

The conversation ID appears to be stored locally (visible in database), but the UI fails to load it properly.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open Cursor IDE
  2. Look at the Past Chats panel on the right
  3. Find a conversation from several days ago
  4. Click on the conversation
  5. Observe: Chat panel shows “Loading Chat” indefinitely
  6. Wait 10-30 seconds
  7. Observe: Instead of loading the conversation, a new empty chat opens

Expected Behavior

The conversation should load and display all previous messages from that chat history.

Operating System

Linux

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

  • Conversation appears in Past Chats list but fails to load
  • Conversation data exists in local database (~/.config/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb)
  • Issue occurs with older conversations (several days old)
  • No error messages displayed
  • Conversation ID: visible in database but UI fails to load it
  • Cursor version: 2.0.34 (from logs)

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

2

Hey, thanks for the report. This looks like a known bug that’s caused chat history to fail to load for some users recently.

Please check:

  • Console logs: open the chat panel, try loading a past chat, then Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console
  • Disk space: was your disk space low during recent Cursor updates? Low disk space during updates is a common cause of history issues
  • Version upgrade: did you recently upgrade from an older version (1.7.x or 1.8.x)?

In the meantime:

  • New chats should work normally
  • Going forward, use Export Chat (3 dots at the top of the chat) to save important conversations as Markdown before updates
  • Consider the SpecStory extension for automatic chat backups

Let me know what you see in the console.