Cursor Agent gets stuck while exploring files and never generates a code change on macOS 27

[Alex_Shekunsky]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Cursor Agent gets stuck while exploring files and never generates a code change

After upgrading to macOS 27.0, Cursor Agent no longer completes coding tasks.

The Agent starts normally and understands the request, but gets stuck during the Exploring / Reading / Grepping phase. It reads the relevant files and performs searches, but never proceeds to generating or applying any code changes.

After upgrading to macOS 27.0, Cursor Agent gets stuck during the file exploration/search phase and never proceeds to generating code changes.

The Agent starts normally and understands the request, but after reading files and performing searches (e.g. grep), it gets stuck in the “Exploring” state indefinitely. It never generates or applies any code changes.

This worked normally before upgrading to macOS 27.0.

I also tried launching Cursor directly from Terminal, but this did not resolve the issue.

The Terminal output contains repeated:

“RequestStore#acceptReply was called without receiving a matching request”

and also:

“MaxListenersExceededWarning: Possible EventEmitter memory leak detected”

The Agent loop also appears to run for approximately 70 seconds before stopping.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a project in Cursor.
2. Start a new Agent conversation.
3. Ask the Agent to make a code change.
4. The Agent starts exploring the project and reading the relevant files.
5. The Agent performs searches/grep operations.
6. The Agent gets stuck in the “Exploring” state and never proceeds to generating the code changes.

Expected Behavior

After exploring the relevant files and understanding the request, the Agent should continue its reasoning and generate and apply the requested code changes.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Cursor: 3.20.21
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Commit: f09fca384ceca23f7bf21f9c23655b162641d740
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Electron: 42.10.0
Chromium: 148.0.7778.280
Node.js: 24.18.1
V8: 14.8.178.38-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: macOS 27.0 (Darwin arm64)
CPU: Apple Silicon

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Agent
High

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[Alex_Shekunsky]

The agent execution provider did not respond in time. This may indicate the extension host is not running or is unresponsive. Request ID: 6689100c-4bd2-41ff-89b1-d4ce4ea09de1

[deanrie]

Hey @Alex_Shekunsky, thanks for the detailed report. I checked what we’re receiving from your machine. The requests reach us fine, and the model responds in 1 to 2 seconds. What’s not finishing is the local part. The Read and Grep steps run inside Cursor on your Mac, and since September 15 they stopped returning results, so the agent stays stuck in Exploring until you stop it.

The Agents Window fails a bit differently, it seems to give up after about 70 seconds, but the cause is most likely the same. Everything worked normally up to September 14, so the main suspect is the upgrade to macOS 27. We already have similar reports from users on macOS 27, for example here: Cursor Agent Tool Calls Repeatedly Fail with “Error: Aborted” When Reading or Editing Files

Two warnings in Terminal (RequestStore#acceptReply and MaxListenersExceededWarning) are harmless noise. They show up when more than one Cursor window is open. You can ignore them.

To narrow down what changed in macOS 27, try these steps in order and tell me what you see at each step:

1. Fully quit Cursor Cursor > Quit Cursor, then reopen it.
2. Open Terminal.app and run git --version. If it prints a version, you’re good. If you see an error like invalid active developer path or it asks you to install Command Line Developer Tools, click Install or run xcode-select --install. Wait until it finishes, fully quit and reopen Cursor, then try the agent again. A major macOS upgrade often breaks these tools, and Cursor’s file search relies on them.
3. Create a new empty folder outside Documents, for example ~/cursor-test. Put one small text file there, open that folder in Cursor, and ask the agent: “Search this folder for the word hello”. Does it finish in a couple seconds, or does it hang too?
4. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders, find Cursor, and tell me which folders are enabled. Then check Privacy & Security > Local Network. Is Cursor listed there, and is it enabled. If anything is disabled, enable it, fully quit Cursor, reopen it, and try again.
5. Run a request in your real project and while it’s stuck on Reading or Grepping, open View > Output and select “Cursor Agent Exec” in the dropdown on the right. Copy the last about 50 lines and paste them here.
6. While the request is still stuck, press Cmd+Shift+P and run “Developer: Capture and Send Debugging Data” with the default settings. Since you have Privacy Mode enabled, the data will be saved locally instead of uploaded. Attach that zip here, or email it to [email protected] with a link to this thread.

And two quick questions. What day did you install macOS 27, and did Cursor update to 3.20.21 on the same day. Also, where is the project from the screenshot located. Is it under Documents, Desktop, or iCloud Drive.

Let me know how it goes step by step. The logs should make it clear what’s getting stuck.

[Alex_Shekunsky]

@deanrie

3. Search this folder for the word hello

1. Done.
2. git version 2.54.0 (Apple Git-157)
3. The agent execution provider did not respond in time. This may indicate the extension host is not running or is unresponsive. Request ID: 2d2d170d-5113-4276-929c-bd6e9c462720
4. Full disk access. Enabled.
5. 026-09-16 17:57:28.130 [info] rg_diagnostics.startup {“rgPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules/@vscode/ripgrep/bin/rg”,“rgPathExists”:true,“rgParentDirExists”:true,“platform”:“darwin”,“arch”:“arm64”,“nodeVersion”:“v24.18.1”,“extensionPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/cursor-agent-exec”,“execPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Frameworks/Cursor Helper (Plugin).app/Contents/MacOS/Cursor Helper (Plugin)”,“uiKind”:“desktop”,“rgFileSize”:4043536,“rgFileMode”:“100755”,“rgIsFile”:true,“parentDirContents”:[“rg”],“grandparentDirExists”:true,“grandparentDirContents”:[“LICENSE”,“bin”,“build”,“jsconfig.json”,“lib”,“node_modules”,“package.json”]}

2026-09-16 17:57:28.130 [info] cursor_agent_exec.startup.workspace_paths {“workspacePathCount”:1,“workspacePaths”:[“/Users/alex2/Desktop/IOS Projects/SKLAD”]}

2026-09-16 17:57:28.185 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] Agent store harness enabled by agent_store_sync_client

2026-09-16 17:57:28.194 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] Agent store sync ready at /Users/alex2/Library/Application Support/Cursor/AgentStores/cursor_agent_stores (source=user_state, ephemeral=false, uriScheme=cursor)

2026-09-16 17:57:28.194 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] Agent store sync client config (non-default): {“syncDebounceMs”:15000,“syncBackoffBaseMs”:10000,“syncBackoffMaxMs”:120000,“projectSyncDebounceMs”:5000,“projectSyncBackoffBaseMs”:5000,“projectSyncBackoffMaxMs”:60000,“passiveRetryIntervalMs”:5000,“passiveIndexPollIntervalMs”:2000,“maxFileSizeBytes”:104857600,“tokenRefreshBufferMs”:60000,“rpcRetryMaxAttempts”:3,“rpcRetryBaseDelayMs”:250,“rpcRetryMaxDelayMs”:5000,“rpcRetryMultiplier”:2,“rpcTimeoutMs”:60000,“blobIdleTimeoutMs”:60000,“syncRoundTimeoutMs”:300000,“syncRoundUnwindTimeoutMs”:30000,“lockReleaseFailureThreshold”:3,“resumeGapThresholdMs”:120000,“dirtyPassiveStalledThresholdMs”:120000,“s3Concurrency”:8,“listConcurrency”:4,“hashConcurrency”:4,“presignConcurrency”:4,“multipartUploadThresholdBytes”:67108864,“multipartPartSizeBytes”:16777216,“multipartPresignWindowSize”:8,“pullPresignWindowSize”:500,“multipartCompleteMaxAttempts”:3,“multipartMaxRestarts”:1,“multipartMaxConflictRenames”:1,“multipartMaxExpiryRefreshes”:1,“writeBarrierTimeoutMs”:2000,“scopedReservedSlots”:1,“pathSyncRequestPollMs”:250,“pathSyncRequestWaitPollMs”:50,“exclusiveMutationClaimPollMs”:250}

2026-09-16 17:57:29.694 [info] CursorPluginsAgentSkillsService load completed {“durationMs”:2,“ruleCount”:0,“skillCount”:0}

2026-09-16 17:57:29.700 [info] cursor_agent_exec.startup.activation_latency {“durationMs”:1577}

2026-09-16 17:57:30.049 [info] [agent-store-sync] u374431448 paused → running (unpause)

2026-09-16 17:57:30.617 [info] [agent-store-sync] mounted u374431448 (state=running)

2026-09-16 17:57:30.617 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] mount alias add kind=principal mountKey=u374431448 alias=user

2026-09-16 17:57:31.121 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] mount alias add kind=principal mountKey=u374431448 alias=user

2026-09-16 17:57:37.456 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] mount alias add kind=principal mountKey=u374431448 alias=user

2026-09-16 18:02:37.433 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] mount alias add kind=principal mountKey=u374431448 alias=user

2026-09-16 18:07:37.489 [info] [cursor-agent-exec] mount alias add kind=principal mountKey=u374431448 alias=user

6. Added zip

7. I installed macOS 27 - 14 sept 2026.
   Don’t remember - maybe Cursor update to 3.20.21 was already installed…
   Project located inside Desktop folder.

debugging-data-1789571370014.zip (1,1 МБ)

[deanrie]

Thanks for going through all the steps. It really helps narrow down the cause.

Here’s what I can tell from your answers: git looks fine (2.54.0), Full Disk Access is enabled, and even a fresh empty folder hangs with the same timeout. That’s an important detail. It means this isn’t tied to a specific project or your settings. The cursor-agent-exec extension is successfully activated based on the logs, but the exec-provider itself, the part that runs local Read and Grep, isn’t responding. Everything was working until September 14, so the main suspect is the upgrade to macOS 27. A few other users on macOS 27 are seeing the same behavior, and I’ve passed everything to the team along with your logs. I can’t share an exact timeline yet, but I’ll reply in the thread once there’s an update.

A couple things to try right now while we investigate:

1. Cmd+Shift+P → run the GC Agent KV Blobs command if it shows up in the list. This has helped some macOS users with the same timeout. If the agent’s local database grew too large, this clears it. After that, fully quit Cursor and reopen it.
2. If that doesn’t help: Cmd+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window, and also check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network to make sure Cursor is listed and enabled, not just Files and Folders.

Let me know if anything changes after step 1. If it still hangs, that’s expected, and we’ll wait for the fix on our side. You don’t need to try anything else.

[Alex_Shekunsky]

1. doesn’t help
2. doesn’t help
   Cursor is listed and enabled in “Files and Folders” and in “Local Network”

[Charlie_K]

Same issue here after MacOS 27 upgrade.
Same as Alex Shekunsky:
doesn’t help

doesn’t help
Cursor is listed and enabled in “Files and Folders” and in “Local Network”

Cursor team needs some QA around Mac / Windows Update testing. Please fix this issue or provide an update.

[Charlie_K]

Hey all, Claude to the rescue! I tried the suggestions and this worked for me:
A few things in macOS 27 specifically are known to cause this:

1. Rosetta 2 no longer carries over automatically. macOS 27 dropped the automatic Rosetta restore after a major OS upgrade, and any x86_64 helper binaries Cursor’s agent tooling relies on will silently fail to spawn if Rosetta isn’t present. Run:

softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

After this install, of course CMD+Q to quit Cursor, restart Cursor and try again. HTH!

[Alex_Shekunsky]

Yesssssss!
That helped.
Thank you so much!

[Yeldar_Abutalipov]

Hi, helped

[Colin]

@Charlie_K (and others)

Thanks for sharing! Could you check to see if you have an x86-64 git binary installed?

Cursor Agent Tool Calls Repeatedly Fail with “Error: Aborted” When Reading or Editing Files

Something with m y installed git being an x86-64 binary instead of an arm64 one. Literally did sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/git and it started working directly after. (There’s a built in git at /usr/bin/git that’s being used instead). IIRC rosetta took care of this before, but not with newest macos. @Tazminur_Rahman no clue if this will help you but it’s something to try maybe. @Colin no clue why cursor would trip on this, but your comment hints of git being called during file search. If this ha…

Making sure you have an arm-compatible Git binary installed should also fix the issue without needing to install Rosetta. We should probably handle this more gracefully anyways and I’m following up with the team.

[fabravo (Frank Bravo)]

Same issue here — stuck in Exploring/Grepping, times out with “extension host is not running or is unresponsive,” on macOS 27 (Apple Silicon). Wanted to add this because Rosetta did not fix it for me, unlike the other reports in this thread.

Console error (DevTools):

[anysphere.cursor-retrieval] spawn Unknown system error -86
Error: spawn Unknown system error -86
	at ChildProcess.spawn (node:internal/child_process:441:11)
	at Object.spawn (node:child_process:810:9)
	at Object.w [as spawn] (file:///Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:740:1610)
	at r (/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/cursor-retrieval/dist/main.js:2:2164268)
	at /Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/cursor-retrieval/dist/main.js:2:2164545
	at ChildProcess.exithandler (node:child_process:410:7)
	at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:509:28)
	at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1124:16)
	at Socket.<anonymous> (node:internal/child_process:481:11)
	at Socket.emit (node:events:509:28)
	at Pipe.<anonymous> (node:net:351:12)

Request IDs from separate hangs: 478a089b-f302-4f0d-8f3a-94ff877c8718, 3738952d-3b97-4ce5-935b-dde8acf5eec7

Reproduces on one Mac only — identical Cursor build, same account, same model (Grok 4.6, High effort), does notreproduce on my other Mac (also macOS 27, same Cursor version).

Already ruled out on the affected machine:

• Full Disk Access — not granted on either Mac, not the differentiator
• Bad-architecture rg binary — confirmed valid universal Mach-O (x86_64 + arm64)
• Quarantine attribute on rg — none present
• Rosetta 2 — confirmed installed and working; reinstalling via softwareupdate --install-rosetta did not help
• Local grep hang — ps aux during a hang showed no rg process running at all
• “Index Repositories for Instant Grep (BETA)” — disabled, no change
• git/Xcode Command Line Tools — /usr/bin/git works fine (2.54.0), CLT properly installed
• Old shadowing git binary at /usr/local/bin/git (leftover x86_64/i386-only binary from a pre-Apple-Silicon install) — found and removed, no change
• git.path setting explicitly forced to /usr/bin/git — no change
• Relaunching Cursor from Terminal (/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/MacOS/Cursor &) to force correct PATH inheritance — no change

Cursor Agent Exec output log from a fresh reproduction (this run didn’t show the -86 error in this particular channel — only in DevTools Console — but included for completeness; note the repeated mount alias add with growing gaps at the end, 0.5s then 7.9s, which looks like a retry/backoff on the agent store sync mount rather than a crash):
2026-09-19 13:30:22.056 [info] rg_diagnostics.startup {“rgPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/node_modules/@vscode/ripgrep/bin/rg”,“rgPathExists”:true,“rgParentDirExists”:true,“platform”:“darwin”,“arch”:“arm64”,“nodeVersion”:“v24.18.1”,“extensionPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/cursor-agent-host”,“execPath”:“/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Frameworks/Cursor Helper (Plugin).app/Contents/MacOS/Cursor Helper (Plugin)”,“uiKind”:“desktop”,“rgFileSize”:8516368,“rgFileMode”:“100755”,“rgIsFile”:true,“parentDirContents”:[“rg”],“grandparentDirExists”:true,“grandparentDirContents”:[“LICENSE”,“bin”,“build”,“jsconfig.json”,“lib”,“node_modules”,“package.json”]}

Debug data zip (Logs, Feature flags/extensions, Process diagnostics) attached separately — happy to send the rest if useful.

debugging-data-1789850078812.zip (619.6 KB)

Operating System: macOS 27 (Golden Gate), Apple Silicon (M1 Max Mac Studio)
Version Information: Cursor: 3.21.13 (Universal)
Model: Cursor Grok 4.6, Effort: High, Fast: on
Does this stop you from using Cursor: Yes

Let me know what else would help narrow this down — happy to test anything.

[Colin]

@fabravo

• “Index Repositories for Instant Grep (BETA)” — disabled, no change

This is probably the issue!

Can you check?

Agent Execution Timed Out - All Agents Blocked

Hey @Carl_Hellstrom Thanks for sticking with us. I think we found what is different about your setup, and there is a setting you can check that should get the agent working again. Open Cursor Settings. In the list on the left, click Code Intelligence. (In the classic editor window this tab is called Indexing.) Find the switch labelled “Index Repositories for Instant Grep”. If it is off, turn it on. Cursor will ask to reload the window. Click Reload Window. Open a new agent chat and send the s…

[fabravo (Frank Bravo)]

Thanks. That setting was turned off (mine doesn’t have (BETA) along side it).

[Colin]

If you turn it on and restart the app, does it work again?

[fabravo (Frank Bravo)]

I swear I tried that, but turning it back on did make it work again.

[s34beast (Casper Kraken)]

YES, i have been battling this for two days! Finally. well done