Hi there, I performed a succesful migration of cursor from my old imac to a new macbook pro. After much pain, i managed to get it all done and can now see all of my chats and agents as i did previously on the old imac. With that settled, i was utilizing the claude extension for some minor changes which is working fine. I then used cursor to reinitiate an existing agent chat which i last worked with the day before. That’s when I encountered the attached “Conversation data missing” error.
Note: All chats are working except for one specific one. It contains critical context for the app i’m building and has a long history.
Appreciate your quick support please! Thank you.
Steps to Reproduce
Launch Cursor >> Send a simple request “Are you there?” >> Attached error appears.
Expected Behavior
Agent should run in the background and respond to my request accordingly without error.
For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled
Request ID: 85f6b9e3-f28c-48cf-8390-0d7f80ebae35
{“error”:“ERROR_CUSTOM_MESSAGE”,“details”:{“title”:“Conversation data missing”,“detail”:“This conversation’s data is missing and can’t be restored. Start a new chat to continue. (91 missing blobs: 2978da137ebb, 3ec632f259c7, 3b468b4579ef, …)”,“isRetryable”:false,“additionalInfo”:{},“buttons”:,“planChoices”:},“isExpected”:false}
Conversation data missing This conversation’s data is missing and can’t be restored. Start a new chat to continue. (91 missing blobs: 2978da137ebb, 3ec632f259c7, 3b468b4579ef, …)
NonRetriableError: Conversation data missing This conversation’s data is missing and can’t be restored. Start a new chat to continue. (91 missing blobs: 2978da137ebb, 3ec632f259c7, 3b468b4579ef, …)
at nkf (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8031:131538)
at lqs (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8031:130104)
at Ekf (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8032:13645)
at Object.classify (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8032:17843)
at _kf (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8032:5924)
at async Sqs.run (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8032:17165)
at async vce.runAgentLoop (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8132:34413)
at async rRo.streamFromAgentBackend (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:17489:17224)
at async rRo.getAgentStreamResponse (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:17489:36143)
at async YIe._submitChatMaybeAbortCurrent (vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/workbench.desktop.main.js:8110:4529)
Hey, thanks for the detailed report. What you’re seeing is a local data issue, not something on our side. Agent chat content is stored only on your Mac, in a single database file. This specific chat references 91 pieces of content that aren’t present in the copy on your MacBook. Most likely the database copy was made before the last session of this chat on your iMac, or state.vscdb was copied while Cursor was running, in that case the newest records stay in the sidecar file and don’t get moved.
If you still have access to the iMac, you can recover it:
Fully quit Cursor on both machines, Cursor > Quit Cursor, not just closing the window.
On the iMac in Finder press Cmd+Shift+G and go to ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/globalStorage/.
Copy the entire globalStorage folder to the MacBook, via AirDrop or an external drive. Make sure state.vscdb and, if present, state.vscdb-wal and state.vscdb-shm are copied together.
On the MacBook, go to the same path, move the current globalStorage folder to the Desktop as a backup, then put the copied folder in its place.
Launch Cursor on the MacBook and open the chat again.
Important: step 4 replaces the MacBook chat storage with the iMac one, so any chats started on the MacBook after the migration will be replaced by the list from the iMac. If you’ve done anything important there, tell me before you do this and I’ll suggest a way to merge the two storages instead of replacing.
If the iMac has already been wiped and there’s no Time Machine backup of that folder, the missing content can’t be recovered. The chat should still stay visible in the sidebar, so the best option is to start a new chat and move the key context over.
Many thanks Dean for this. Before your note came through, I went through Codex to diagnose and perform the migration and I suspect it did the same thing. It’s now resolved. Appreciate the very quick response!
Hey, glad everything’s working now, and thanks for coming back with an update.
For next time when moving to a new machine: fully quit Cursor Cursor > Quit Cursor, then copy the entire User/globalStorage folder along with state.vscdb and, if present, state.vscdb-wal and state.vscdb-shm. Copying while Cursor is running, or without the sidecar files, is exactly what can cause some chat data not to transfer.
Thanks Dean! Is there anything else I need to be aware of when migrating from one machine to another - apart from what you mentioned about copying the entire globalstorage? Is there an online resource with instructions on how to perform a full migration i.e. to ensure that all agents/chats/files are identical between the old and new?
On a full migration: there isn’t an official “move Cursor to a new machine” guide right now. The key is to separate what syncs automatically vs what you need to copy manually.
Syncs via your account if you enable Settings Sync:
Chat and agent history. It’s stored locally in state.vscdb. That’s what you copied.
For a complete manual move on Mac so everything matches 1:1:
Fully quit Cursor on both machines Cursor > Quit Cursor
Copy the whole folder ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/ including globalStorage/ with state.vscdb, state.vscdb-wal, state.vscdb-shm, plus settings.json, keybindings.json, and snippets
Optional extensions: ~/.cursor/extensions although it’s usually easier to let Cursor reinstall them via Settings Sync
The main rule that caused the original issue: only copy while Cursor is fully closed, and always include the -wal and -shm files. Otherwise the newest records like your last chat session stay in the sidecar file and won’t transfer.
