Old node in cursor (cursor-server)

[Volodymyr_Lishchyshy (Volodymyr Lishchyshyn)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

cursor-server use old node 20.18, but many mcp-s require 20.19 or above.
in WSL

Steps to Reproduce

cd ~/.cursor-server/bin/…
./node -v

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

Version: 3.1.15 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 3a67af7b780e0bfc8d32aefa96b8ff1cb8817f80
Date: 2026-04-15T01:46:06.515Z
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

[deanrie]

Hey, this is a known issue. The remote cursor-server uses Node.js 20.18.2, while the desktop client is already on Node 22.x. Because of this, MCP servers and extensions that require a newer Node version don’t work in WSL or SSH environments.

There’s already a detailed report about it here: Cursor remote runtime locked to Node 20 — breaks modern extensions requiring Node ≥22 (node:sqlite). The team is aware, but there’s no ETA yet.

As a workaround for MCP servers, you can try setting the full path to your system Node version 20.19 or newer in the MCP server config, so it won’t rely on the built-in Node in cursor-server.

Let me know if the workaround helps.