# Cursor becomes unresponsive - very high cpu usage **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Tags:** crashes, performance\ **Created:** [June 19, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-becomes-unresponsive-very-high-cpu-usage/163646 "2026-06-19T15:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![deanrie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/deanrie/32/1263_2.png) [@deanrie](https://forum.cursor.com/u/deanrie)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-becomes-unresponsive-very-high-cpu-usage/163646/5 "2026-06-19T15:49:58Z")
Hey, thanks for the detailed report. To figure out what’s actually using CPU, we need to narrow it down. A couple quick checks: 1. Open Process Explorer: `Cmd+Shift+P` \> `Developer: Open Process Explorer`. When the system starts freezing, check which process is spiking CPU like `extensionHost`, `ptyHost`, `renderer`, retrieval/ripgrep. Send a screenshot. 2. Start Cursor with extensions disabled from Terminal: ```bash cursor --disable-extensions ``` Use it for 20 to 30 minutes and see if the freeze happens again. This will tell us if an extension is causing it. 1. What project is open when it happens? Is it a big repo with lots of files, and is indexing running? I’ve seen a similar case where retrieval spawned runaway `rg` workers on large `node_modules`: [Retrieval extension spawns runaway rg workers after Yarn node\_modules relink](https://forum.cursor.com/t/retrieval-extension-spawns-runaway-rg-workers-after-yarn-node-modules-relink/160696) If you catch it during a freeze, you can also grab a macOS sample of the problematic process Activity Monitor \> select the process \> gear icon \> Sample Process and attach it. That helps a lot with diagnosis. Let me know what Process Explorer shows and what happens with `--disable-extensions`. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-becomes-unresponsive-very-high-cpu-usage/163646)._