Linter not refreshing with background file change

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

After a recent update, if I edit a file outside Cursor while it’s open e.g. by switching git branches then the linter I’m using (biome) gets confused and shows a ton of lint errors because it’s reading a stale version of the file or getting line numbers mixed up. I’m unsure if it’s a bug with the linter or Cursor but there have been no changes to the linter recently.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Install biome extension
  2. Open a .ts file and edit it, confirm no lint errors and commit
  3. Create a new git branch and edit the file, confirm no lint errors, commit
  4. Switch back to the old branch and see a bunch of lint errors

Expected Behavior

Linter should get fresh version of the file when it changes in background

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.4.23 (Universal)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 379934e04d2b3290cf7aefa14560f942e4212920
Date: 2026-01-29T21:24:23.350Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.2.7
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue with file watchers after git operations. I’ve seen similar cases here.

Try these steps to debug it:

Quick workaround:

  • CMD+Shift+P > “Developer: Reload Window” after switching branches
  • Or just close and reopen the file

To diagnose the root cause:

  1. Launch Cursor with extensions disabled: run cursor --disable-extensions in a terminal, then try to reproduce the issue. If it goes away, it’s likely a conflict with an extension.

  2. Open the Console (Help > Toggle Developer Tools > Console tab), switch branches, and check if there are any errors.

  3. Try switching branches using Cursor’s built-in Source Control panel instead of the terminal. Does it still happen?

Can you share what you find? I’m especially interested in the first one, does this still happen with extensions disabled.

4

Thanks for the reply. But just to be clear – the file appears updated to me visually but the extension (Biome) appears to be reading an old or corrupted version of the file. So step 1 doesn’t really make sense as the problem manifests through the Biome extension so it’s necessary to have at least that extension running. Restarting Biome/reloading the developer window does fix the problem but it’s very disruptive to work and also makes terminal AI agents get confused because they see lint errors in Cursor when they make a change.