# Cursor freezes and makes my laptop really hot **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Created:** [December 17, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563 "2025-12-17T01:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/1 "2025-12-17T01:02:34Z")
### Where does the bug appear (feature/product)? Cursor IDE ### Describe the Bug IDE is frozen - for the past hours, I am not able to use Cursor! It’s very small repo, that I just added a new lambda with a few config settings! I have only two chats open, and I use the models in auto mode. ### Steps to Reproduce I’m not sure, cause it used to work fine, up until recently, after I did a cdk synth it started acting very weird. I restarted my laptop, Cursor, opened up a new chat, but after using it a few times it hangs. ### Expected Behavior Not freeze! ### Screenshots / Screen Recordings ![Screenshot 2025-12-16 at 16.59.20.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/0/0/00b851ca13d961a467dec11ff2fd190cd56880f5.png) ### Operating System MacOS ### Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy) I can’t even press on about Cursor! Nothing happens, and my laptop is really hot ### For AI issues: which model did you use? auto ### Does this stop you from using Cursor Yes - Cursor is unusable ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/2 "2025-12-17T01:45:22Z")
Here is how the memory looks when Cursor stops working! There is no query or request running, just two past chats opened! I suspect maybe the chat is too long? but before I had so many instances of Cursor running, 4-5 and some of them even doing work in the background. Now I can’t even check the code with one instance! ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/e/c/ec472959c5870ea1c550a9709ea727040726ceaa.png) ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/3 "2025-12-17T05:17:56Z")
ended up switching to Claude Code, cause Cursor was unusable and I’m starting to fall in love with it! ---
**Author:** ![sanjeed5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sanjeed5/32/9610_2.png) [@sanjeed5](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sanjeed5)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 8:20am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/4 "2025-12-17T08:20:56Z")
Sorry for the trouble! That 12.93GB RAM usage from Cursor Helper (Renderer) is abnormally high. Since this started after `cdk synth`, the generated `cdk.out/` folder may be causing some issues. Try adding it to a `.cursorignore` file in your project root: ```auto cdk.out/ ``` Also try these diagnostics: 1. **Test without extensions** : Run `cursor --disable-extensions` from terminal - if this fixes it, an extension is the culprit 2. **Check Process Explorer** : CMD + Shift + P \> “Developer: Open Process Explorer” to see which process is consuming resources 3. **Clear chat history** : Long conversations can cause memory bloat - try starting fresh with no chats open ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/5 "2025-12-17T17:50:42Z")
Closing the chats and opening a new one seemed to have fixed it, but what’s weird is that even if I opened a project with fewer chats it would ran into the issue! I have done cdk synth a bunch of times before, and even with bigger projects, no issue in the past, but I’ll still add it to ignore, as it’s context not needed for Cursor anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/6 "2025-12-17T21:17:48Z")
The issue is back! I added cdk.out to .cursorignore and started a new chat but Cursor is still unusable! I can’t check which process is consuming resources as the cursor is frozen! I can’t do anything with it! I can’t ran the command you mentioned for disabling extensions: This is very upsetting! ☹ ```auto cursor --disable-extensions open: unrecognized option `--disable-extensions' Usage: open [-e] [-t] [-f] [-W] [-R] [-n] [-g] [-h] [-s ][-b ] [-a ] [-u URL] [filenames] [--args arguments] Help: Open opens files from a shell. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/7 "2025-12-18T00:00:50Z")
@sanjeed5 is it possible to downgrade Cursor’s version? All these problems started to appear when I upgrade it! ---
**Author:** ![sanjeed5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sanjeed5/32/9610_2.png) [@sanjeed5](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sanjeed5)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 12:07pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/8 "2025-12-19T12:07:08Z")
Sorry about this. I’ve raised this with the team! Can you please try reinstalling from here: [Download · Cursor](https://cursor.com/download) ---
**Author:** ![sanjeed5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sanjeed5/32/9610_2.png) [@sanjeed5](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sanjeed5)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 12:51pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/10 "2025-12-19T12:51:12Z")
Thanks for the report - the team is looking into this. To help narrow down the cause, can you try: 1. **Share your `.cursorignore` file** - Make sure it’s `cdk.out/` (with trailing slash) not `cdk.out` 2. **Test with a different folder** - Open a completely different workspace (outside your CDK project) to see if the issue still occurs For downgrading if needed, you can find older versions at [Download · Cursor](https://cursor.com/download) by expanding the version dropdowns. ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/11 "2025-12-19T17:43:39Z")
@sanjeed5 it happens with any repo, even the ones that don’t have the `cdk.out!` Before the latest updates I could run cdk synth, and a lot of other commands, no issues whatsoever, even without a `.cursorignore`. I updated Cursor yesterday and same issue. After chatting and doing some small changes it freezes. Memory went all the way to 16GB. I’ll try re-installing the latest one again and if not I’ll re-install an older version! I’ll keep you post it if I notice patterns with reproducing it! ---
**Author:** ![sanjeed5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sanjeed5/32/9610_2.png) [@sanjeed5](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sanjeed5)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/12 "2025-12-22T13:53:28Z")
Can you try `cursor --disable-extensions` from CLI again please? Just want to make sure this is not due to any extensions. The `cursor --disable-extensions` command requires the CLI to be installed first. Run: `CMD + Shift + P` \> “Install ‘cursor’ command” ---
**Author:** ![Luisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@Luisa](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Luisa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/13 "2025-12-22T17:47:02Z")
@sanjeed5 Haven’t had any memory issues since Friday! I reinstalled Cursor same version as before, but it seems to be working fine now. Maybe something just needed a clean reset. ---
**Author:** ![sanjeed5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/sanjeed5/32/9610_2.png) [@sanjeed5](https://forum.cursor.com/u/sanjeed5)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/14 "2025-12-23T12:10:24Z")
Awesome, glad to hear that! We’ve also added some new improvements in version 2.3. Happy coding! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/system/32/99069_2.png) [@system](https://forum.cursor.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cursor-freezes-and-makes-my-laptop-really-hot/146563/15 "2026-01-14T12:10:41Z")
Closed on January 14, 2026, 12:10pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 22 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.