# IDE agent PR lookup spams desktop with popups **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Tags:** terminal, github, performance, windows\ **Created:** [July 26, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/ide-agent-pr-lookup-spams-desktop-with-popups/166725 "2026-07-26T20:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bradley\_b](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/bradley_b/32/115770_2.png) [@bradley\_b](https://forum.cursor.com/u/bradley_b)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/ide-agent-pr-lookup-spams-desktop-with-popups/166725/1 "2026-07-26T20:05:17Z")
### Where does the bug appear (feature/product)? Cursor IDE ### Describe the Bug On Windows, Cursor’s branch→PR resolver falls back to local GitHub CLI (`gh pr list`) through `agent-exec`. When the current feature branch has **no pull request URL** , a force-refresh path retries about every **1 second** , spawning visible console windows (`pwsh` → `conhost` → `gh`). This causes constant popup flashes and wasted CPU. This started after upgrading to Cursor **3.13.10** (installed on this machine 2026-07-23/24). It happens in the **main IDE** (file tree left, editor center, Agent chat on the right; `CURSOR_LAYOUT=unifiedAgent`). I do **not** use the separate Agents Window. Process Explorer shows: ```plaintext Cursor.exe └─ pwsh.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NonInteractive -File %TEMP%\ps-script-.ps1 └─ conhost.exe └─ gh.exe pr list --repo --head --state all --json url ``` Environment on the flashing `pwsh` process includes: - `CURSOR_AGENT=1` - `CURSOR_EXTENSION_HOST_ROLE=agent-exec` - `CURSOR_LAYOUT=unifiedAgent` Temp script Cursor generates contains: ```powershell Set-Location '' # Execute user command gh pr list --repo "/" --head "" --state all --json url ``` Local product path appears to be `branchPullRequestGhCliFallback` / `branchMetadataService.resolveBranch(..., { forceRefresh: true })` with `_scheduleForceRefreshRetry` at **1000ms** when no PR URL is latched. Workaround that stops the loop for one branch: open a **draft PR** so Cursor can latch a URL. Closing that PR while staying on the branch can bring the loop back. This is a band-aid, not a fix. Not caused by Task Scheduler, Claude Code extension, or user hooks (ruled out). ### Steps to Reproduce 1. Use Windows 11 with Cursor 3.13.10. 2. Use the main IDE layout (Agent chat on the right). Do not open Agents Window. 3. Open a GitHub-backed git repo. 4. Check out a feature branch that has **no** open PR (local-only branch, or pushed branch with no PR). 5. Keep Agent chat active and/or run a Compound Engineering plan / normal agent work in that repo. 6. Watch for brief console window flashes on screen. 7. In Process Explorer, observe repeating short-lived processes: `pwsh` running `%TEMP%\ps-script-*.ps1`, then `gh pr list --repo … --head … --state all --json url`. 8. Optional confirm: create a draft PR for that branch → flashes for that branch stop. Stay on a different feature branch with no PR → flashes return. ### Expected Behavior 1. If a branch has no PR, Cursor should resolve once to “no PR” and **stop** retrying every second. 2. Background `pwsh`/`gh` lookups on Windows should be spawned with `CREATE_NO_WINDOW` / hidden console so they never flash. 3. Prefer API/SCM backend for PR metadata instead of shelling out to `gh`, or provide a setting to disable the CLI fallback (especially on Windows). **Actual behavior:** unbounded ~1s force-refresh retries via visible console subprocesses whenever the current feature branch has no PR URL. ### Screenshots / Screen Recordings ![cursor-popup-issues-1.jpg](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/original/3X/8/e/8ea012633f69d308180382ebd34d87ae3518996f.jpeg) ### Operating System Windows 10/11 ### Version Information Cursor version: **3.13.10** Commit: `4f02290ccd9304f0e6bf8ee85f6e9106f02ac1f0` Date: 2026-07-23 Layout tag observed on failing process: `unifiedAgent` ### For AI issues: which model did you use? Not model-specific. This reproduces from IDE/agent PR-metadata background activity, not from a particular chat completion model. ### For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled N/A — this is not tied to one chat completion request. If needed for correlation, the failing activity is continuous `agent-exec` shell spawns of: `gh pr list --repo --head --state all --json url` while Agent chat is open on a feature branch with no PR. ### Additional Information - Shell used by Cursor for the spawn: PowerShell 7 `C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe` - GitHub CLI installed: `C:\Program Files\GitHub CLI\gh.exe` - Reproduced across multiple repos/branches, e.g.: - `bradleybenner/cursor` / `feat/cognee-unified-second-brain` - `bradleybenner/para-areas` / `feat/warm-specialist-portfolio` - Creating a draft PR for the active branch stops the loop for that branch; measured spawn rate dropped from ~1/sec to 0. - No user setting found in 3.13.10 to disable `branchPullRequestGhCliFallback` / branch metadata force-refresh. Cursor Settings “PR Attribution” only controls attribution labeling, not this lookup loop. - Separate/unrelated flashes can also come from Docker Desktop `docker stats` when the Docker dashboard is open; those stopped when Docker UI was closed. The `gh pr list` loop is Cursor-specific. - Related Windows issue class: agent shell spawns missing `CREATE_NO_WINDOW`. This report is specifically the PR-metadata `gh pr list` retry loop in the main IDE. ### Does this stop you from using Cursor No - Cursor works, but with this issue ---
**Author:** ![mohitjain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/mohitjain/32/100229_2.png) [@mohitjain](https://forum.cursor.com/u/mohitjain)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 7:57am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/ide-agent-pr-lookup-spams-desktop-with-popups/166725/7 "2026-07-27T07:57:47Z")
Hey @bradley_b 1. The retry storm. When your current branch has no pull request, Cursor’s background branch→PR lookup keeps re-checking about once a second instead of settling on “no PR” and backing off. Each retry falls back to the local GitHub CLI (`gh pr list`), which is what you’re seeing spawn over and over. 2. The visible console windows. On Windows those background lookups aren’t launched hidden, so each one flashes a `pwsh`/`conhost` window. That’s a known Windows issue we’re already tracking, and your report adds the exact command line and the PR-metadata trigger, which is genuinely useful for pinning it down. Your workaround is the right call for now: opening a PR (even a draft) for the active branch lets Cursor latch a real PR URL, which stops the lookup loop for that branch - and closing it while staying on the branch brings the loop back, exactly as you found. There’s no setting to disable the CLI fallback today, so the draft-PR trick is the best stopgap. I’m reporting the once-a-second retry behavior to our engineering team as its own issue (the window-visibility side is already tracked), and I’ll follow up here when there’s movement. Thanks again for doing so much of the diagnosis for us. ---
**Author:** ![Benjamin\_Dahl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/benjamin_dahl/32/115977_2.png) [@Benjamin\_Dahl](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Benjamin_Dahl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/ide-agent-pr-lookup-spams-desktop-with-popups/166725/8 "2026-07-28T23:21:35Z")
@mohitjain I’m seeing the same underlying issue on macOS, but the symptom is repeated 1Password Touch ID prompts rather than Windows console popups. Environment: - Cursor: 3.13.25 stable - Commit: `31e8d61c448c7472e371505838a0fe34083dad50` - Date: `2026-07-28T06:17:45.069Z` - Layout: Agent Window - OS: macOS / Darwin arm64 25.6.0 - GitHub CLI: `gh 2.96.0` - Shell: zsh - 1Password is configured as the `gh` credential provider via: `alias gh="op plugin run -- gh"` Observed process shape: ```plaintext Cursor Helper (Plugin): extension-host Agents Window └─ /bin/zsh -c ... └─ gh pr list --repo / --head --state all --json url ``` Because Cursor launches this through my shell, my `gh` alias expands to: ```sh op plugin run -- gh pr list --repo / --head --state all --json url ``` That means each background branch→PR lookup triggers a 1Password “CLI access requested” Touch ID prompt. I was seeing roughly 12 prompts per minute, making Cursor effectively unusable. This reproduces across Cursor 3.13, 3.12, and 3.11 for me, so it does not appear to be a 3.13-only regression. I also tried clearing Cursor’s branch metadata / composer header / local agent state caches, but the behavior returned after reopening Cursor, which suggests the lookup is being rescheduled from active repo/branch state rather than only stale persisted metadata. I also confirmed locally that Cursor’s bundled code has a GitHub CLI fallback path that runs: ```sh gh --version gh pr list --repo / --head --state all --json url ``` I could not find a Cursor setting that disables this local `gh` fallback for background PR metadata lookup. Impact: - Frequent 1Password Touch ID prompts, multiple times per minute - Cursor becomes hard to use even when no visible agent task is running - Background `gh` lookups happen for merged/stale branches as well as current branches - Users who route `gh` through credential helpers, SSO, 1Password, or other interactive auth flows get interrupted constantly Expected behavior: 1. If no PR exists for a branch, Cursor should cache “no PR” and back off rather than retrying aggressively. 2. There should be a setting to disable local `gh` fallback for background PR metadata lookup. 3. Background PR metadata lookup should avoid invoking shell aliases/functions when possible, or use a non-interactive path. 4. Background PR metadata lookup should be independently controllable, especially for users with interactive `gh` authentication flows. Temporary workaround I used locally: I replaced my `gh` alias with a guarded shell function that detects Cursor Agent Window / `agent-exec` background calls and returns `[]` only for this exact lookup shape: ```sh gh pr list --repo ... --head ... --state all --json url ``` All other `gh` commands still go through 1Password normally. This stopped the 1Password prompt storm, but it is only a local workaround. ---
**Author:** ![t-ricci-aux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/t-ricci-aux/32/115925_2.png) [@t-ricci-aux](https://forum.cursor.com/u/t-ricci-aux)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/ide-agent-pr-lookup-spams-desktop-with-popups/166725/9 "2026-07-29T14:32:08Z")
Please check if this issue is also related: [Orphaned agent-exec gh shell storm maxes CPU after Plan Mode (multi-root)](https://forum.cursor.com/t/orphaned-agent-exec-gh-shell-storm-maxes-cpu-after-plan-mode-multi-root/166863)