Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes!

[Priska]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes.
I can’t use Cursor anymore since this morning…
I’m stuck, I can’t work!!!

Steps to Reproduce

I just start Cursor !

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.6.13
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 60faf7b51077ed1df1db718157bbfed740d2e160
Date: 2026-03-06T06:17:49.499Z (3 days ago)
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.6.0
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

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[deanrie]

Hey, I can see the stack trace points to loadCertificates in the extension host process. That’s a specific crash path related to certificate loading on macOS.

A few things to try:

1. Launch Cursor from Terminal with extensions disabled:

   cursor --disable-extensions
   

   If it still crashes, try a temporary profile:

   cursor --profile-temp
   

2. I need the full logs from Developer Tools to pinpoint the issue:

   • Open Cursor
   • Immediately press Cmd+Shift+I (or Help > Toggle Developer Tools)
   • Go to the Console tab
   • Wait for the “Extension host terminated” error
   • Copy all the red errors and paste them here

3. Also, have you recently updated macOS or changed any system certificates or security settings? The crash is happening in loadCertificates, which loads system certificates. That’s unusual and could be related to a macOS update or a corporate certificate setup.

Let me know what the logs show.

[Priska]

I tried to launch it both ways, it still crashes.

Do you think it can be a project related bug?
Because I tried to open Curor with an another project, and I don’t have that issue.

Console Tab

workbench.desktop.main.js:64 ERR [Extension Host] (node:23972) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The punycode module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use Cursor Helper (Plugin) --trace-deprecation ... to show where the warning was created)
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:64
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:64
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:48656
pMy @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43747
$logExtensionHostMessage @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43747
_doInvokeHandler @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_invokeHandler @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_receiveRequest @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_receiveOneMessage @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
workbench.desktop.main.js:43747 [Extension Host] (node:23972) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The punycode module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use Cursor Helper (Plugin) --trace-deprecation ... to show where the warning was created)
hMy @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43747
$logExtensionHostMessage @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43747
_doInvokeHandler @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_invokeHandler @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_receiveRequest @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_receiveOneMessage @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46619
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
workbench.desktop.main.js:49755 Extension Host
workbench.desktop.main.js:49751 Extension host (LocalProcess [role: retrieval-always-local] pid: 23972) terminated unexpectedly. Code: 6, Signal: unknown
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49756
_onExtensionHostCrashOrExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_onExtHostProcessExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
l @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onResponse @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onBuffer @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43763
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_deliverQueue @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
ne @ workbench.desktop.main.js:53
emit @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
onMessage @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
workbench.desktop.main.js:64 ERR Extension host (LocalProcess [role: retrieval-always-local] pid: 23972) terminated unexpectedly. The following extensions were running: anysphere.cursor-always-local, anysphere.cursor-resolver, anysphere.cursor-retrieval
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:64
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:64
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:48656
_logExtensionHostCrash @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49756
_onExtensionHostCrashOrExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_onExtHostProcessExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
l @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onResponse @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onBuffer @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43763
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_deliverQueue @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
ne @ workbench.desktop.main.js:53
emit @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
onMessage @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
workbench.desktop.main.js:46679 [ext_host_cursor] Extension host crashed undefined {arch: ‘x64’, platform: ‘darwin’, channel: ‘stable’, client_version: ‘2.6.13’, code: 6, …}
error @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46679
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49756
_onExtensionHostCrashOrExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_onExtHostProcessExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
l @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onResponse @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onBuffer @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43763
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_deliverQueue @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
ne @ workbench.desktop.main.js:53
emit @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
onMessage @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
workbench.desktop.main.js:48644 Extension host terminated unexpectedly 3 times within the last 5 minutes.
onDidChangeNotification @ workbench.desktop.main.js:48644
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:48644
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_deliverQueue @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
addNotification @ workbench.desktop.main.js:45757
notify @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46616
prompt @ workbench.desktop.main.js:46616
_onExtensionHostCrashed @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49756
_onExtensionHostCrashOrExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49751
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
_onExtHostProcessExit @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:49755
_deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
l @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onResponse @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
onBuffer @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43764
(anonymous) @ workbench.desktop.main.js:43763
deliver @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
deliverQueue @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
fire @ workbench.desktop.main.js:55
ne @ workbench.desktop.main.js:53
emit @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
onMessage @ VM4 sandbox_bundle:2
workbench.desktop.main.js:47028 [HOOKS] Failed to load plugin hooks Canceled: Canceled
at wbe (workbench.desktop.main.js:28:2426)
at workbench.desktop.main.js:46619:18900
at Array.forEach ()
at KDt.dispose (workbench.desktop.main.js:46619:18741)
at U4a.dispose (workbench.desktop.main.js:46623:9663)
at yw.dispose (workbench.desktop.main.js:49751:13932)
at Aw.stopAllInReverse (workbench.desktop.main.js:49751:13066)
at async yid._doStopExtensionHosts (workbench.desktop.main.js:49750:78673)

I have updated MacOS recently yes , both macOS and the Command Line as well.

[Priska]

I found my problem
My React App had a corrupted package.json file. (empty file)
I have just fixed it and now the Extensions Host is starting properly.

I don’t know if this is something that could help you.

Thanks