Huge amount (80+ now, growing) of obsolete changes/files tabs popping up, every time i restart Cursor

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Starting Cursor, then opening a Project i am working on, brings back countless changes (file tabs).
Deleting in roaming data the back ups - doesnt help.
AI also cant help.
Only deleting the entire roaming directory helps. (but that is not cool for obvious other reasons).

Steps to Reproduce

for me:

  • work on my project (using perforce)
  • close idea after doing some changes
  • opening ide again

Expected Behavior

  • i get warned about any pending changes like in other programs
  • no accumulation of old and obsolete changes on startup

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.5.38 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 009bb5a3600dd98fe1c1f25798f767f686e14750
Date: 2026-05-26T21:32:06.537Z
Layout: editor
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.8.1
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.1
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey, this is a known bug: phantom unsaved or modified files after restarting on Windows. It reproduces, but there’s no ETA for a fix yet.

In your case (Windows + Perforce), a common root cause is EOL conversion (CRLF↔LF) during startup indexing. If your sources are in CRLF, Cursor can rewrite them to LF and they show up as modified. Here’s what to try:

  1. Lock the EOL in settings.json:

    "files.eol": "\r\n"

    Also check the files are actually CRLF. You can see CRLF or LF in the editor status bar in the bottom right.

  2. Quick fix without a restart: press Ctrl+E (toggle editor layout). Often the phantom changes disappear right away.

  3. Turn off restore state in Settings:

    • files.restoreUndoStack: false
    • workbench.restoreEditors: none

  4. Clear accumulated state (close Cursor first):

    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\History
    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\anysphere.cursor-commits\checkpoints
    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\anysphere.cursor-retrieval\checkpoints

This is less drastic than deleting the whole %APPDATA%\Cursor. Let me know what helped, especially whether locking EOL fixes it. That would help with diagnosis.

7

I cannot believe we’re still dealing with this issue, I’ve found bug reports spanning multiple major versions and lots of supposed fixes that never seem to fix it. I am so close to churning and taking my money elsewhere. How is there no ETA? Please prioritize this.

9

I 2nd this. Why is this not a priority? Bug has been around for months.

12

Hey, I get the frustration. This bug is really annoying, and the fact it’s been around for more than one release sucks. I won’t sell you optimism. The issue is reproducible, it’s been reported internally and it’s a known issue, but I don’t have an honest ETA for a fix right now.

Until it’s closed, there are a few workarounds that, for some users, noticeably reduce the pain (more details in the post above):

  1. Disable state restore in settings.json:
    "files.restoreUndoStack": false,
"workbench.restoreEditors": "none"
  2. If your files use CRLF, pin the EOL so startup doesn’t rewrite them to LF:
    "files.eol": "\r\n"
  3. Clear the accumulated state (close Cursor first):
    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\History
    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\anysphere.cursor-commits\checkpoints
    • %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\anysphere.cursor-retrieval\checkpoints

This is less drastic than deleting the entire %APPDATA%\Cursor.

One quick question so I can match your case correctly. What version control are you using, Perforce, git, TFVC, or something else? The symptom looks the same, but the triggers differ between non-git and git setups, and that affects which active report I should link you to. Once I have an update on the fix, I’ll reply in the thread.

13

I use git. But after 2 years of being a paying customer I’m giving up on cursor. Wezterm + neovim + lazyvim + claude code is working great now for the other folks having this issue.

16

Hey @Blurme, I said I’d come back with an update, so here it is.

Since your post, we’ve shipped a bunch of improvements in this area. In particular, the phantom unsaved changes that were getting restored from old backups on restart should no longer pile up. You’re currently on 3.5.38, which is well before these changes.

Can you update to the latest version and check if any obsolete changes or file tabs come back after a restart? If everything looks clean, no need to reply. If it still reproduces, please share any updated details like your version and a screenshot, it’ll help with debugging.

One more thing. For Perforce and other read-only setups, we still have more fixes on the way, so some cases in non-git workspaces may still happen until those ship. Let me know how it goes after the update.

cc @zachrip @MidnightOak