Cursor tries to index linux home

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

I accidentally opened Cursor IDE on my linux home directory, and it tried to index my entire computer, immediately lagging the entire system (and never stopping)

Steps to Reproduce

  1. open Cursor
  2. open ~ Folder

Expected Behavior

Notification: Indexing paused, this directory appears to be too large. Are you sure you want to index it?

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

Version: 3.6.31
VS Code Extension API: 1.105.1
Commit: 81fcf2931d7687b4ff3f3017858d0c6dee7e2a60
Date: 2026-05-31T17:46:29.630Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.8.1
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.220
OS: Linux x64 7.0.9-205.fc44.x86_64

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

5

Hey, thanks for the report. This isn’t exactly a bug. Right now Cursor indexes the workspace root you opened, and we don’t have a guardrail yet for very large roots like ~. When you open your home directory, it tries to index everything inside it, including third-party files, caches, etc. That’s why you see lag.

Workaround:

  • Open your project folder directly, not ~.
  • If you need to keep a large root open, add heavy paths to .cursorignore or .cursorindexingignore to exclude them from indexing. More info: Ignore files | Cursor Docs

The warning request “this directory appears too large, are you sure?” makes sense. I’ll pass it along as a feature request. I can’t share an ETA for it.