When using docker instances via Orbstack or any non-Docker Desktop apps, Cursor’s Anysphere Dev Container extension is unable to connect to them.
This used to work perfectly fine until yesterday, when after updating to the latest version of cursor, i got a pop-up to use Anysphere’s dev containers and I clicked - yes, after that, I am unable run dev containers on cursor at all.
Steps to Reproduce
Use the latest version of Cursor, use podman/Orbstack and try to run repos with dev container settings.
Expected Behavior
It must work the same way, with same settings that VS Code dev containers run on. VS Code default dev container setup works flowlessly with any docker client
Operating System
MacOS
Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)
Failed to connect to the remote extension host server (Error: Invalid DevContainerDestination JSON: {“hostPath”:“/Users//Desktop/”,“localDocker”:false,“settings”:{“context”:“orbstack”},“configFile”:{“$mid”:1,“fsPath”:“/Users//Desktop//.devcontainer/devcontainer.json”,“external”:“file:///Users//Desktop//.devcontainer/devcontainer.json”,“path”:“/Users//Desktop//.devcontainer/devcontainer.json”,“scheme”:“file”}})
I faced the same issue after updating the Anysphere Dev Container extension. I deleted everything inside the C:\Users\USERNAME.cursor\extensions folder and reopened my project locally. Then, I reinstalled the extensions. Finally, I used the “Reopen in Container” option to rebuild the containers, and that fixed the problem.
I’m seeing a similar error when updating to the anysphere devcontainer solution:
Failed to connect to the remote extension host server (Error: Invalid DevContainerDestination JSON: {"hostPath":"/Users/parth/foo","localDocker":false,"settings":{"context":"desktop-linux"},"configFile":{"$mid":1,"fsPath":"/Users/parth/foo/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json","external":"file:///Users/parth/foo/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json","path":"/Users/parth/foo/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json","scheme":"file"}})
Fwiw, I’m using latest Docker Desktop on MacOS 15.5.
It would be nice to have an easy rollback to the MS version of devcontainers?
@ravirahman this is still breaking and unable to use cursor whatsoever, I removed the anysphere dev container extensions but Cursor still keeps prompting to install it and use it - when I click deny, it just does not open VS Code default dev containers
And i thought with 1. the mess stopped. But no: updated: Broke everything.
Windows 10. I need to access my old container session. 100% the chat history is gone when i rebuild the container. I HATE IT!
Hi @slashrunsonchain, @tufantoksoz, and @fathom-parth, could you try upgrading to version 1.0.10 of the Anysphere Remote Containers extension? We fixed some compatibility issues with how we parse the URI to be compatible with the format of the VSCode remote containers extension.
Failed to install Cursor server: Failed to check Docker version -- is docker installed and running?: [docker info] Command failed with exit code 1: spawn orbstack ENOENT: stdout:
Fails with this issue - after updating the extension.
Hi @slashrunsonchain, it’s a bit strange that it’s trying to call the orbstack command. The default configuration for Orbstack adds a docker-compatible CLI to the path, so everything should work automatically. Wondering if you have changed the “Docker Path” setting? If so, could you try resetting it to the default, or the absolute path to the orbstack-provided Docker cli (/Users/XXXXX/.orbstack/bin/docker)?
Hey @ravirahman, these are the settings, its path is set to docker only
I get this issue -
type or paste code here
```Failed to install Cursor server: Failed to check Docker version -- is docker installed and running?: [docker info] Command failed with exit code 1: stdout: Client: Version: 28.2.2 Context: desktop-linux Debug Mode: false Plugins: ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.) Version: v1.4.0 Path:```
Hi @slashrunsonchain, this error implies that the docker daemon is not running (docker was found, but the client couldn’t connect to the daemon). Can you try starting or restarting docker?
