Hi, I am working on a new project. Working with the plan agent to build a plan for the project. It created a plan.md file which has 700 lines. Cursor keep crashing with code 11 as soon as that file is opened.
Why does this happen? How can I fix this?
Steps to Reproduce
Ask the plan agent to create a plan for building a distributed endpoint security application with multiple modules.
Expected Behavior
Cursor should be able to open the file without crashing.
Hey, thanks for the report. Exit code 11 usually means a segmentation fault. We’ve seen a few similar reports about Plan mode crashes this week.
We need a bit more info to debug:
Crash logs:
CMD + Shift + P > “Developer: Open Log File” and look for anything about crash or SIGSEGV right before it crashes
Or check Console.app (Applications > Utilities). Filter by “Cursor” and find the crash report
Repro steps:
Does it only crash on this specific plan.md, or on others too?
If you open another file in the same project, is it fine?
Can you try renaming plan.md to plan_backup.md via Terminal and then create a new plan?
Temporary workaround:
Try opening the file in another editor (VS Code, a plain text editor) and copy the content in parts into a new file. Something in the content might be triggering the crash.
If you can share the crash logs, I’ll pass them to the team to investigate.
I am unable to see the “Developer: Open Log file” command on mine. I reviewed the main log file which does have some errors regarding the location of the application but none of them are SIGSEGV. Log lines provided below:
2026-01-25 23:18:55.336 [error] vscode-file: Refused to load resource /Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/theme-seti/icons/seti.woff from vscode-file: protocol (original URL: vscode-file://vscode-app/Applications/Cursor.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/theme-seti/icons/seti.woff)
2026-01-25 23:18:55.354 [info] [Tray] getMacOSIconPath: hasNotifications: false
2026-01-25 23:18:58.035 [info] [CursorProclistService] Config enabled feature (subsample every 10s)
2026-01-25 23:19:23.964 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-25 23:19:24.203 [info] UpdateService onError()
2026-01-25 23:19:24.206 [error] UpdateService (using backup url: false) error: Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. See https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac/issues/182 for more information.
2026-01-25 23:19:24.206 [info] update#setState idle
2026-01-25 23:39:32.714 [warning] No ptyHost heartbeat after 6 seconds
2026-01-26 00:29:52.806 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-26 00:29:53.765 [info] UpdateService onError()
2026-01-26 00:29:53.767 [error] UpdateService (using backup url: false) error: Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. See https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac/issues/182 for more information.
2026-01-26 00:29:53.767 [info] update#setState idle
2026-01-26 01:29:52.895 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-26 01:29:53.099 [info] UpdateService onError()
2026-01-26 01:29:53.099 [error] UpdateService (using backup url: false) error: Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. See https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac/issues/182 for more information.
2026-01-26 01:29:53.100 [info] update#setState idle
2026-01-26 02:29:52.932 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-26 02:29:53.082 [info] UpdateService onError()
2026-01-26 02:29:53.082 [error] UpdateService (using backup url: false) error: Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. See https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac/issues/182 for more information.
2026-01-26 02:29:53.082 [info] update#setState idle
2026-01-26 03:33:29.760 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-26 03:33:32.734 [info] UpdateService onError()
2026-01-26 03:33:32.735 [error] UpdateService (using backup url: false) error: Cannot update while running on a read-only volume. The application is on a read-only volume. Please move the application and try again. If you're on macOS Sierra or later, you'll need to move the application out of the Downloads directory. See https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Mac/issues/182 for more information.
2026-01-26 03:33:32.735 [info] update#setState idle
2026-01-26 04:33:29.865 [info] update#setState checking for updates
2026-01-26 04:33:30.022 [info] UpdateService onError()
I tried to review in the Console, which does not have a trace of Cursor at all.
So the crash is happening only if I choose to open the files int he edotor when it restarts again. When the file is not opened, cursor opens fine. I requested the plan agent to re-write the file without too many markdowns. Which seem to have opened fine.
Would it be a case of memory issue here? If yes., how can I increase the allocated memory to cursor?
Hey, thanks for the follow-up. Glad you found a workaround. Re-saving the file without the “too many markdowns” fixed the issue.
About Console.app, the crash report might be in a different section. Try this:
Console.app > Crash Reports (in the left sidebar)
Look for files like Cursor_2026-01-*.crash or Cursor_2026-01-*.ips
If you find one, can you attach it here?
But if everything is working now and the file opens normally, it was most likely caused by a specific combination of markdown formatting in the original file. Exit code 11 is a segmentation fault, which often happens during content parsing or rendering.
On memory, it’s unlikely to be a limit issue since 700 lines of markdown isn’t that much. Cursor uses the same limits as Electron and Chrome, and you can’t really increase them directly.
If the crash happens again with new plan.md files, message me right away with the crash logs, and I’ll pass them to the team for a deeper investigation. For now, this looks like an edge case tied to formatting in that file.
I reviewed the console app crash report(Console.app > Crash Reports (in the left sidebar) and I couldn’t find any files with cursor prefix. I will keep an eye out and update here when cursor crashes again.
Thank you for your prompt support on this.
