`create_plan` Tool Fails with "Failed to create/update plan file"

[Grant_Peck]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Bug Report: create_plan Tool Fails with “Failed to create/update plan file”

Summary

The create_plan tool consistently fails with the error “Failed to create/update plan file” even though the .cursor/plans/ directory exists with correct permissions.

Environment

• OS: Linux (WSL2) - 5.15.153.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
• Distribution: Ubuntu
• Cursor: Freshly reinstalled (Dec 8, 2025)
• Workspace: /home/ubuntu/github/infrastructure

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Cursor’s planning mode
2. Ask the AI to create a plan using the create_plan tool
3. Tool fails with: Error calling tool: Failed to create/update plan file

What I Tried

1. Initial state: The .cursor directory was not visible in the workspace
2. Saving plans: Creating/saving plans appeared to create the .cursor directory
3. Plan overwriting: Subsequent plans overwrote previous plans, so I deleted the .cursor directory
4. Issues began: After deleting, the plan tool started failing
5. Re-created directory: Manually created .cursor/plans/ with mkdir -p
6. Reinstalled Cursor: Completely reinstalled Cursor IDE
7. Verified permissions: Confirmed directory is writable (can create files via terminal)

Diagnostic Information

Directory structure:
/home/ubuntu/github/infrastructure/.cursor/
├── plans/
│ └── test.md (manually created, proves directory is writable)

Permissions:
drwxr-xr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Dec 8 08:55 plans

• Owner: ubuntu (uid 1000)
• Group: ubuntu (gid 1000)
• Access: 0755

Proof directory is writable:
Successfully executed:
touch /home/ubuntu/github/infrastructure/.cursor/plans/test.md
echo “test” > /home/ubuntu/github/infrastructure/.cursor/plans/test.md### Expected Behavior
The create_plan tool should create a plan file in .cursor/plans/.

Actual Behavior

Tool immediately returns: Error calling tool: Failed to create/update plan file

No additional error details are provided. The failure occurs even though:

• The directory exists
• The directory has write permissions
• Manual file creation works

Additional Notes

This may be related to the planning mode issues reported after version 2.1.0.
The error provides no actionable diagnostic information, making troubleshooting difficult.

Expected Behavior

Expected Behavior
The create_plan tool should create a plan file in .cursor/plans/.
Actual Behavior
Tool immediately returns: Error calling tool: Failed to create/update plan file
No additional error details are provided. The failure occurs even though:
The directory exists
The directory has write permissions
Manual file creation works

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.50 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 56f0a83df8e9eb48585fcc4858a9440db4cc7770
Date: 2025-12-06T23:39:52.834Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Model name: Opus 4.5

Additional Information

Additional Notes
This may be related to the planning mode issues reported after version 2.1.0. The error provides no actionable diagnostic information, making troubleshooting difficult.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report.

We need more diagnostics to understand why plan saving fails specifically on WSL:

• In the chat with the error, open the context menu at the top right → Copy Request ID and send it. Guide: Getting a Request ID | Cursor Docs
• Open Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console, reproduce the error, and send the full log/screenshots.
• How do you open the project: via Remote WSL or through \\wsl$ from Windows? Please share the exact workspace path Cursor sees.
• Check if it reproduces in a regular folder on drive C: (e.g., C:\temp\repo) without WSL.
• Start Cursor with extensions disabled: cursor --disable-extensions and check plan creation.
• Fully remove the .cursor folder at the repo root (not just .cursor/plans), restart Cursor, create a new plan, and try Save to workspace.

For reference: a recent Windows plans issue was fixed in 2.1.49, details here: 2.1.47 plans are always innaccessible and unreachable and cannot build. Since you’re on 2.1.50, we want to see if this is related to WSL paths/permissions. Please share the data above and I’ll pass it to engineering.