Cursor Agent repeatedly attempts to read/search files but fails to analyze codebase properly in WSL

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I’m having an issue with Cursor Agent when working inside a WSL Ubuntu workspace.

My project is a single workspace folder with multiple subdirectories/modules. When I ask the agent to analyze the codebase, it does not seem to reliably read the project files. It keeps repeating actions like:

Read attempted
Search files attempted
Grep attempted

But it often fails to complete the analysis or gives incomplete results.

In the agent output, I see messages such as:

“Only evaluate_mice.py appears consistently readable across file chunks”

and:

“full-file or offset reads still fail intermittently”

So the issue does not look like the agent simply misunderstanding the codebase. It looks like the agent’s file reading/search tools are failing intermittently or getting stuck while trying to inspect files.

I am using Cursor with the workspace opened in WSL Ubuntu. The workspace is not my home directory or entire hard drive. It is one project directory with many subdirectories.

Steps to Reproduce

Open Cursor on Windows with a project located inside WSL Ubuntu.

Open the project as a single workspace folder, for example:

/home//projects/hotel-email-reservation-assistant

Make sure the project contains multiple subdirectories/modules and Python files.
Open Cursor Agent.

Ask the agent to analyze the codebase, for example:

Analyze the codebase in readonly mode. Be medium thorough. Return the top-level directory structure, main application entry points, important scripts, testing/evaluation setup, and potential risks.

Wait while the agent tries to inspect the files.
Observe that the agent repeatedly shows actions such as:
Read attempted
Search files attempted
Grep attempted
The agent takes a long time and does not reliably complete the analysis.

In some cases, the agent reports that only one file is consistently readable, for example:

“Only evaluate_mice.py appears consistently readable across file chunks”

or:

“full-file or offset reads still fail intermittently”

The final response is incomplete or unreliable because the agent appears unable to consistently read/search the workspace files.

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.9.16 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.105.1
Commit: 042b3c1a4c53f2c3808067f519fbfc67b72cad80
Date: 2026-06-27T06:41:01.941Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.256
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

4

Example codebase anaysis output here

Coverage note: Read-only tooling was mostly unavailable during this pass. Only /home/vusal5555/projects/hotel-brendan/app/generate.py (157 lines) could be read reliably. The rest of this report combines that file with imports, naming, and typical patterns. For a full tree walk (entry points, tests, Docker, CI), re-run in Agent mode or retry when tooling is healthy.

6

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. This is a known Windows + WSL2 behavior, not that the agent can’t understand your project. All of its tools (Read, Grep, Search files, Shell) go through a single exec backend on the WSL side, and when the remote extension host crashes or hangs, the tools start failing. That’s why you see “only one file reads consistently” and “offset reads still fail intermittently”.

Try these steps in order:

  1. Reload Window: Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window
  2. In PowerShell run wsl --shutdown, then reopen the project using cursor . from a WSL shell
  3. If that didn’t help, delete ~/.cursor-server inside WSL. Cursor will reinstall the server on the next connection
  4. Always launch the workspace the same way using cursor . from inside WSL, so the remote authority doesn’t change case (wsl+ubuntu). A case mismatch can also trigger this bug

This bug is being tracked, but there’s no exact ETA for a fix yet. The main discussion and updates are here: Execution backend unavailable. I’d suggest subscribing. Let me know if any of the workarounds helped.

8

Thank you I followed all these steps and It worked. From now on I am gonna launch my Cursor from the terminal.