Chat history ( when using AppImage) not persistent anymore after Linux Kernel update

Bug Reports
1

Whole chat history deleted / lost after updating linux kernel.

repro.

  • i start from (prev. installed) appimage (v0.50.7, after updating system & linux kernel
  • I chat with the AI, i work i vibe. I close cursor
  • i open up cursor, i panic, all history from all workspaces, pooof gone.
  • i check sql3 db files, some are ~4MB, but reading them they seem empty. I do VACUUM, pooof datasize under 1MB.

system

analysis from cursor

Why This Can Happen

  1. AppImage Sandboxing or Filesystem Changes

    • AppImages sometimes use FUSE or other sandboxing mechanisms.
    • A kernel update can change how FUSE, mounts, or user permissions work.
    • This can cause the AppImage to:
      • Lose access to its previous config/data directories.
      • Start using a new, empty config directory (so it ā€œforgetsā€ old data and canā€™t write new data).

  2. Permissions or SELinux/AppArmor

    • Newer kernels may enforce stricter permissions or security policies.
    • Cursor may not have write access to ~/.config/Cursor anymore.

  3. Cursor Bug or Regression

    • Itā€™s possible (though less likely) that a Cursor update or bug is causing it to not save chats.

How to Check

  1. Check If New Data Is Written

    • Open Cursor, start a new chat, close Cursor, and reopen it.
    • If the chat is gone, Cursor is not persisting data.

  2. Check File Modification Times

    • Run:
      ls -l ~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/*/state.vscdb
    • See if the modification time updates after you use Cursor.

  3. Check Permissions

    • Make sure you have write permissions to the config directory:
      touch ~/.config/Cursor/testfile
    • If this fails, itā€™s a permissions issue.

  4. Run Cursor from Terminal

    • Start Cursor from a terminal and watch for error messages about file access.

What To Do If This Is the Problem

  • Switch to the AUR cursor-bin version (recommended for Arch/Manjaro users). This version is less likely to have sandboxing or FUSE issues.
  • Check for AppImage updatesā€”maybe a newer version fixes this.
  • Report the issue to Cursorā€™s GitHub or Discord, mentioning your kernel version and that youā€™re using AppImage.

TL;DR

  • Yes, a kernel update can break AppImageā€™s ability to store data.
  • Check if files are being updated.
  • Switch to cursor-bin from AUR for better reliability.

Update

I downloaded app image for 0.50.5 , running it now, chats are persistent again

2

This is why you should never mess about with your Linux Kernel unless you are a expert Linux user with 20 years plus of professional experience, one of the biggest no-noā€™s is tampering with your Kernel for precisely this reason, it breaks things.

Take this as a lesson learned and be thankful you didnā€™t corrupt your entire system and in future stick to updating through your package manager, repositories or to newer versions of your distro instead of tampering with your kernel when you do not know what you are doing.

3

Or you do regular backups (which i did not of the cursor config folder, which i will now do ^^). I do know what i am doing ,most of the time.
To your point I did an update through the official package manager. the system is fine this is just a quirk with the cursor appimage.

1 Like
4

I usually keep the backup old appimage until I test the new version as Cursor can make sweeping changes for example switching from 0.50.7 to 0.51.0 had a change to how rules are used and did not transfer my old cursor rules, so keeping the old appimage allowed me to copy n paste my rules to the new system.

1 Like
5

true that!
the chat history alas on my system is stored in .config/Cursor/User/ so i will add this to the bkps in the future

1 Like
6

Always remember that if you update your Linux Kernel and you have issues, you can always rollback to a more stable kernel, especially on Arch\Manjaro etc where there is often more updates on Kernel level, Iā€™m using a LTS version of Pop_OS! not even the latest Ubuntu version so my updates are much less infrequent to system level components.

That is too say some Distros push updates even on their LTS versions a lot faster than others, this isnā€™t necessarily a pro or con as both approaches have their benefits, but always be cautious and atleast keep backups just in case something unexpected happens.

Iā€™ve been there where I blindly updated my system and corrupted my install and it was not fun, nearly lost all my data and one drive took me 3 days to fix, so all Iā€™m saying is setup backups and keep old versions of critical software ā€˜just in case.ā€™

1 Like
7

i hear your pain. been to similar places, not fun at all.
this is how we learn.
appreciate you!