Latest Update MacOS Environment Variable file syntax highlighting gone

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

After installing the latest update environment variables no longer have syntax highlighting. File type language mode is automatically set to environment variables, but all color syntax highlighting has disappeared.

Steps to Reproduce

Open a .env or .env.local file and see that all text is the same color.

Expected Behavior

Syntax highlighting should persist.

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 3.10.11 (Universal)
VS Code Extension API: 1.125.0
Commit: 4ef9fe3d055f8c4523179a090f14eb835bc3c940
Date: 2026-07-03T04:44:14.398Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.256
OS: Darwin arm64 25.5.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

Hi @mdbrennan!

Cursor doesn’t natively provide syntax highlighting for .env files. Are you using a VSCode extension like mikestead.dotenv? Is it still installed on your machine?

If you’re using another extension for this, let us know which one.

That’s the same one I’m using and this just stopped after the latest update yesterday.

Thanks @mdbrennan

Would you be able to share a screenshot of Cursor facing this issue (sensitive details redacted, of course)?

attached are two screenshots of an example file.

The one where everything is shades of grey is what I now get when environment variables is the association, the coloured one is what cursor rigged up for me based on properties.
Note that I’ve been using cursor for over a year and this only happened on Monday this week with an update.

I’ve uninstalled dotenv etc, and nothing seems to restore it.

I also have the same issue it’s showing Plain text just randomly after updating

Hey all!

Thanks again for reporting. We tracked down the problem and a fix should come in the next cut of v3.11 (3.11.25+)