High CPU usage on Ubuntu (first time hearing fan noise)

I am a new cursor user. I have been using cursor about a week. I have noticed that my laptop fan is often running on high speed now for long time intervals.

When I checked to see what processes were using so much CPU it was cursor. Then I was surprised to find many cursor processes running simultaneously, and some even appeared to be different versions of cursor. I have noticed that cursor upgrades itself, but hadn’t realized that all of these processes were being started and left running.

I exited the cursor app and found that all of the processes listed below were continuing to run using high CPU after I had exited the app.

Why are there so many of these processes running and why are they using so much CPU?

The processes seem to fall into two types:

  1. Processes with build in the name:
    vm:~$ ps -ef | grep cursor | grep -v .mount
    howard 2167 1039 0 01:05 ? 00:00:03 ./cursor-0.30.4-build-240325dezy8ziab-x86_64.AppImage
    howard 13954 1039 0 07:41 ? 00:00:01 ./cursor-0.30.5-build-240327tmd2ozdc7-x86_64.AppImage

  2. Processes with /tmp/.mount_cursor in the name. There were many more of these types of processes running:
    oward@howard-fltv-vm:~$ ps -ef | grep cursor
    howard 2162 1039 94 01:05 ? 15:00:52 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor
    howard 2167 1039 0 01:05 ? 00:00:03 ./cursor-0.30.4-build-240325dezy8ziab-x86_64.AppImage
    howard 2171 2162 0 01:05 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=zygote --no-zygote-sandbox
    howard 2172 2162 0 01:05 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=zygote
    howard 2174 2172 0 01:05 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=zygote
    howard 2188 1039 0 01:05 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/chrome_crashpad_handler --monitor-self-annotation=ptype=crashpad-handler --no-rate-limit --database=/home/howard/.config/Cursor/Crashpad --annotation=_companyName=Microsoft --annotation=_productName=Cursor --annotation=_version=0.30.4 --annotation=lsb-release=Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS --annotation=plat=Linux --annotation=prod=Electron --annotation=ver=27.2.3 --initial-client-fd=45 --shared-client-connection
    howard 2201 2171 0 01:05 ? 00:00:07 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=gpu-process --crashpad-handler-pid=2188 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --gpu-preferences=WAAAAAAAAAAgAAAEAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAAAAAA4AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAgAAAAAAAAACAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAA== --shared-files --field-trial-handle=0,i,4679258580453920867,1193593700477346047,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 2210 2162 0 01:05 ? 00:00:06 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=2188 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=0,i,4679258580453920867,1193593700477346047,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 2274 2162 0 01:05 ? 00:00:08 /tmp/.mount_cursor9iIzpO/cursor --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=2188 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=0,i,4679258580453920867,1193593700477346047,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 13949 1039 99 07:41 ? 09:18:37 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor
    howard 13954 1039 0 07:41 ? 00:00:01 ./cursor-0.30.5-build-240327tmd2ozdc7-x86_64.AppImage
    howard 13958 13949 0 07:41 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=zygote --no-zygote-sandbox
    howard 13959 13949 0 07:41 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=zygote
    howard 13961 13959 0 07:41 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=zygote
    howard 13975 1039 0 07:41 ? 00:00:00 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/chrome_crashpad_handler --monitor-self-annotation=ptype=crashpad-handler --no-rate-limit --database=/home/howard/.config/Cursor/Crashpad --annotation=_companyName=Microsoft --annotation=_productName=Cursor --annotation=_version=0.30.5 --annotation=lsb-release=Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS --annotation=plat=Linux --annotation=prod=Electron --annotation=ver=27.2.3 --initial-client-fd=45 --shared-client-connection
    howard 13988 13958 0 07:41 ? 00:00:07 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=gpu-process --crashpad-handler-pid=13975 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --gpu-preferences=WAAAAAAAAAAgAAAEAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAABgAAAAAAA4AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAGAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAAAgAAAAAAAAACAAAAAAAAAAIAAAAAAAAAA== --shared-files --field-trial-handle=0,i,14568397906242730357,15231307312812040129,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 13997 13949 0 07:41 ? 00:00:02 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=13975 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=0,i,14568397906242730357,15231307312812040129,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 14056 13949 0 07:41 ? 00:00:05 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=13975 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=0,i,14568397906242730357,15231307312812040129,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 14102 13949 0 07:41 ? 00:00:04 /tmp/.mount_cursoro5XyJt/cursor --type=utility --utility-sub-type=node.mojom.NodeService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handler-pid=13975 --enable-crash-reporter=e1447a41-5b6f-41ed-aec6-dfab72059318,no_channel --user-data-dir=/home/howard/.config/Cursor --standard-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --enable-sandbox --secure-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --cors-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --fetch-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --service-worker-schemes=vscode-webview --code-cache-schemes=vscode-webview,vscode-file --shared-files=v8_context_snapshot_data:100 --field-trial-handle=0,i,14568397906242730357,15231307312812040129,262144 --disable-features=CalculateNativeWinOcclusion,SpareRendererForSitePerProcess
    howard 29752 29714 0 16:58 pts/4 00:00:00 grep --color=auto cursor