Cursor can't chat after open large folder with remote-ssh

Support Help
, ,
4

Hello Sai,

This is a known issue where the extension host takes too long to initialize on large workspaces connected via remote-SSH, causing chat to hang. Our team is aware of this and tracking it.

Here are a few things that can help, in order of likelihood to resolve:

  1. Open a smaller sub-directory – Instead of opening the root of a large folder, open just the specific project directory you’re working in. This is the most effective workaround since it reduces the amount of workspace the extension host needs to process.

  2. Use a .cursorignore file – Create a .cursorignore file at the root of your project (similar to .gitignore) to exclude large directories that Cursor doesn’t need to index (e.g., build artifacts, vendor directories, generated code). More info: Cursor Ignore

  3. Check for heavy extensions – Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run “Developer: Open Process Explorer” to check if any extensions are consuming excessive resources under extensionHost. The AWS Toolkit extension in particular has been flagged as problematic – try disabling it if you have it installed.

  4. Restart Cursor – If chat gets stuck, fully closing and reopening Cursor (or starting a new chat with Ctrl+N) can temporarily resolve it.

You may also find this related thread helpful, where an engineer confirmed the large-folder pattern and recommended the subfolder approach: Chat stuck when use remote ssh

If these steps don’t help, could you share:

  • A request ID when the issue happens (click the copy icon in the error, or find it under Help > Request ID)?

  • Approximately how large the folder is (file count or GB)?

This will help our team investigate further.

Best,
Mohit