Cursor "No ptyHost heartbeat after 6 seconds" Bug Report

Bug Reports
1

Environment Details

  • OS: Linux (Mint linux xfce), kernel 5.15.0-140-generic)
  • Cursor Version: 0.50.4
  • AppImage Launch Method: Standard AppImage execution

Issue Description

When launching Cursor on Linux, terminal functionality is severely impacted by persistent “No ptyHost heartbeat after 6 seconds” errors. These errors occur regardless of configuration tweaks, rendering the integrated terminal essentially unusable with constant freezes every 6 seconds.

Symptoms

  • Terminal freezes/hangs periodically with “No ptyHost heartbeat after 6 seconds” messages
  • Initial errors about “Unable to resolve your shell environment in a reasonable time”
  • Terminal becomes non-responsive after several minutes of use
  • Issue persists even with completely clean shell configurations

Attempted Solutions

I’ve tried literally everything short of rewriting Cursor’s source code myself:

  1. Modified .bashrc to remove slow-loading components (conda/nvm)
  2. Created clean minimal launcher scripts that bypass shell initialization
  3. Set environment variables to disable shell resolution (VSCODE_SKIP_RESOLVING_SHELL_ENV=1)
  4. Completely purged all Cursor/VSCode data directories
  5. Launched with custom flags (--no-sandbox, --disable-gpu, etc.)
  6. Used isolated environments with controlled environment variables
  7. Extracted the AppImage and ran the binary directly

The Absurd Reality

It’s 2025, and somehow an Electron-based text editor still can’t reliably manage a pseudo-terminal on Linux. While VS Code handles this with ease, Cursor—based on the same codebase—somehow manages to fall over spectacularly when faced with the complex task of… running bash.

Perhaps the ptyHost is taking scheduled 6-second breaks to contemplate its existence? Maybe it’s actually working perfectly, and those “heartbeat” messages are just its way of saying “I’m still here, just choosing not to respond”?

Impact

This issue makes Cursor practically unusable for Linux developers who (shockingly) occasionally need a working terminal. The irony of an AI-powered development tool that can’t maintain basic terminal functionality isn’t lost on me.

help.

2

I downloaded the oldest version of the AppImage. Does not really solve the “no ptyhost heartbeat” bug, but it makes it bearable to work on. As it only happens after 45 minutes or so, not like in the new version, whenever I would like to use the chat or the terminal, it starts.

3

Same here. I tried launching the AppImage with --disable-gpu but to no avail.
I suspect a graphics card issue however. Which card do you have (AMD or NVidia?)
Where did you download an older Version of the AppImage?
The bug is super annoying.