Explorer sidebar shows no file tree — only OPEN EDITORS, OUTLINE, TIMELINE

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

When the Explorer view is selected in the sidebar, the file tree (folder/file list) does not appear. The sidebar only shows:

  • OPEN EDITORS (collapsed)
  • OUTLINE (collapsed)
  • TIMELINE (expanded, with “The active editor cannot provide timeline information.”)

There is no workspace name, no folder tree, and no list of files — the area where the file tree should be is empty.

Already tried

  • File → Open Folder — opened the project root folder (not a single file)

  • Expanding/collapsing sections in the Explorer

  • Scrolling the sidebar (file tree is not above/below)

  • Right-click in sidebar → Refresh (when available)

  • Developer: Reload Window (Cmd+Shift+P)

  • Clearing Cursor cache and reopening

  • Workspace has no .gitignore or .cursorignore that would hide everything

  • Added .vscode/settings.json with explorer.compactFolders: false — no change

  • Workspace: Single folder (project), not multi-root

Steps to Reproduce

Persistent — happens every time with this project

Expected Behavior

Explorer should show the workspace name and the folder/file tree below it (e.g. PLAN.md, README.md, etc.).

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.5.20 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 511523af765daeb1fa69500ab0df5b6524424610
Date: 2026-02-19T20:41:31.942Z (2 days ago)
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Early Access
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 25.3.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Hey, thanks for the detailed report.

This usually happens when the Folders section in the Explorer gets hidden by accident. Try this:

  1. Right-click any of the visible section headers (like OPEN EDITORS, OUTLINE, or TIMELINE) in the Explorer sidebar.
  2. You should see a context menu with checkboxes for all available sections. Make sure Folders (or your workspace name) is checked.

If Folders isn’t there, try:

  • Open the Command Palette Cmd+Shift+P and run View: Reset View Locations
  • If that doesn’t help, try View: Open View... and search for Explorer Folders

It’s also worth checking if the same issue happens when you open a completely different folder.

Let me know how it goes.