Remote server access causes high memory usage and system freeze

Support Help
,
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

My server has 2 cores and 4 GB of RAM. I’ve only configured a /.cursorignore file — I’m not sure what step I’m missing, but the high memory usage issue still isn’t resolved. This is a recurrence after I reinstalled the OS, and I can no longer remember what I did to fix it the first time. Could it be that I’m missing a step in the Ctrl+Shift+P settings?

/proc/
/sys/
/dev/
/run/
/tmp/
/var/lib/docker/
/var/lib/containerd/
/var/cache/
/root/.cache/
/root/.cursor-server/
/root/.hermes/sessions/
**/node_modules/
**/.git/objects/

Steps to Reproduce

Accessing a remote server via SSH for coding work

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Screenshot 2026-10-17 120633.png
Screenshot 2026-10-17 120633.png2037×502 73.4 KB

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.25.6 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: f0df777c412b670d09e3eaf214967d779e67c080
Date: 2026-10-14T22:46:28.448Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 42.10.0
Chromium: 148.0.7778.280
Node.js: 24.18.1
V8: 14.8.178.38-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26300

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey @cong, thanks for the report.

The .cursorignore file only controls what Cursor indexes and what the AI can read. It doesn’t affect the file watcher, search, or extensions running on the server, so it won’t lower memory use there. The entries in yours (/proc/, /sys/, /var/lib/docker/) suggest the SSH window has / (the whole filesystem) open as its folder. On a 2 core / 4 GB server, that alone can push the remote side to its memory limit.

Here’s what usually fixes it:

  1. Open only your project folder: File → Open Folder, then pick something like /root/your-project instead of /.
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+P, run Preferences: Open Remote Settings (JSON) (SSH: your-host), and add:
    "files.watcherExclude": {
  "**/node_modules/**": true,
  "**/.git/objects/**": true,
  "**/dist/**": true
},
"search.exclude": {
  "**/node_modules": true
}
  3. Start a new chat for each task instead of keeping one very long chat going. Very long chats add to memory use on the server.
  4. Optional, but it helps on a 4 GB machine: add a 2 to 4 GB swap file so the server slows down instead of freezing.

If memory still climbs after that, please run this on the server while usage is high and paste the output here, along with the folder path you open in Cursor:

ps -eo pid,rss,args --sort=-rss | head -15

That shows which Cursor process is using the memory.