Cursor is very slow to open and browse files on remote SSH server, when VS Code works perfectly fine on the same computer. When trying to expand a folder, the file explorer panel often have no response for a few seconds, before showing a spinning wheel next to the folder that I’m trying to open, and it is stuck at the spinning wheel phase for a long time before it finally shows the content. The slowness is not only limited to directories with large amount of files and is very variable - sometimes it could never open a folder after waiting for more than a minute, sometimes a few seconds (barely tolerable). This is not due to the slow connection to my SSH server, because if I do a side-by-side comparison by opening the exact same folder using VS code, VS code opens the same folders instantaneously.
In addition, when connected to an SSH server, the Terminal in Cursor is also very slow to respond when even trying to type a simple command (there is a 2-3 seconds delay between me pressing the keyboard and the letters appear in the terminal).
To browse and edit files on a remote SSH server, or to execute commands, I have to revert back to VS code. I cannot use Cursor smoothly on an SSH server. I am a paid user.
Steps to Reproduce
Use Cursor and VS code to open the same remote SSH server. Trying to expand folders in Cursor is much slower than VS Code.
Expected Behavior
Cursor is expected to be able to browse and execute commands on a remote SSH server smoothly like VS code, but it is much more laggy than VS Code.
Screenshots / Screen Recordings
Operating System
MacOS
Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)
Yes, really really slow - sometimes freezes even for 20 seconds. My network is perfect, and the server also has perfect internet connection.
I use the latest cursor version.
Hi all, thanks for sharing this issue. We are looking into it. We believe the issue is more severe in large workspaces with many files (recursively)
As a workaround in the meantime, I’d recommend opening small folders (if possible) or using a multi-root workspace to limit the # of files visible to Cursor.
Is it trying to index everything in the workspace? Perhaps just add a manual control to what should or should not be visible to cursor. I do find cursor sometimes trying to read and modify files that I didn’t intend for it to read.
The worst part is the terminal experience:
I am using a small project. the terminal is not responsive responsiveness is in bursts. after loosing focus, a terminal pane takes 20s to beome responsive to key inputs again. this makes cursor practically unusable for me
Something similar here, when connected remotely, it takes way to long for cursor to notice terminal results, such as ls or after finishing running a python script. Many times I have to copy the terminal results into cursor’s chat so it can read them.
Hi all, the next update will have some improvements to the indexing code, which should help with the performance of the remote connection. We expect the update to ship this week.
Please release it soon or maybe figure out some other way to improve the ssh performance! I’ve been experiencing this issue for months. Can’t bear with the slowness compare vscode anymore!
The file-saving function is also much slower than what is indicated in the command prompt. In most cases, after you save the modifications to the file and run it, you will find that the changes have not been written to the file. This issue and the unnecessary modifications on ssh remote have wasted too much time, so I have canceled the subscription and switched to VSCode.
I had the very same problem, when working on a folder with many files (> 1TB), due to many results of experiments I made.
By adding a .cursorignore file to the folder, that excluded the heavy results, the problem disappeared.
This aligns with what @ravirahman said.
