Git for Windows processes appearing

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Hi I have a situation, probably my own fault, where cursor spawns many “git for Windows” processes that sends the CPU to 100 and hobbles the whole (old) pc till I restart cursor, can only use it for 10 min at a time now till this condition begins. The project is quite large in scope and I have a very large and messy workspace where all the different chats I have share the workspace I believe. I am )about 2.5 months into project with quite broad scope (8 device types with firmware a web portal an android app and ios(flutter).
Apologies in advance for not giving enough information. This is also concerning.

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Hey, thanks for the report and screenshots. They really helped.

What’s happening: Cursor’s built-in Git extension keeps running git ls-files and git diff to track your working tree state. In a large workspace with lots of untracked or changed files, this can get out of hand, which is why you’re seeing 100% CPU usage.

What you can try:

  • Check your .gitignore. This will likely fix it. Make sure node_modules/, build artifact folders, .flutter/, and any generated files are properly ignored. The “too many active changes” warning means Git is seeing a huge number of modified or untracked files. The fewer files Git has to scan, the fewer processes it will spawn.
  • Temporarily disable the built-in Git extension to confirm the cause: Ctrl+Shift+P > “Extensions: Show Built-in Extensions” > find “Git” > Disable. If CPU usage drops, that confirms it.
  • Reduce Git polling: in Settings Ctrl+, search for git.autorefresh and turn it off. Also set git.autoRepositoryDetection to false or openEditors.
  • Split into separate workspaces: when firmware, web portal, Android, and Flutter are all in one workspace, Git scans everything at once. If each one is its own repo, open them separately or use a multi-root workspace with a correct .gitignore in each.
  • Consider .cursorignore: you can create a .cursorignore file (same syntax as .gitignore) to tell Cursor which directories to exclude from indexing.

Can you share:

  • How many files and folders are at the top level of your workspace?
  • Do you have a .gitignore, and roughly what’s in it?
  • Your Cursor version (Help > About)?

This is a known issue with large repos. The team improved git process handling in recent versions, so it’s worth making sure you’re on the latest Cursor.