The Restore Checkpoint button went missing in Cursor IDE chats.
Restarting Cursor doesn’t help.
Steps to Reproduce
It is random, but it is happening more and more frequently over the year, and it almost happens in every of my sessions now. Sometimes the first prompt in chat still has the "Restore Checkpoint " button, but most of them are missing in the whole session history.
Some of the request IDs:
dc4750d5-ad18-41d7-a12b-6d8469314ae7
bcc1449a-c665-4d17-b3b6-e4c2986df7f3
Hey, thanks for the report and the Request ID. This looks like a known intermittent UI bug where the Restore checkpoint button sometimes disappears from the chat history. Restarting Cursor usually brought it back, but since restarting doesn’t help for you on 3.11.19, that’s a new angle. I’ve reported it internally with your Request ID. I can’t share an ETA for a fix yet.
For now, here are a couple ways to get unblocked if this is still relevant:
Run git reflog or git stash list. If you had at least one commit or stash, you can often recover the state.
In Cursor: Cmd+Shift+P > Local History: Find Entry to Restore. This is local file history and works separately from checkpoints.
If you used an agent worktree, check the backup folder .cursor/.
To help the team find the root cause, can you tell me:
What was happening in the chat right before the button disappeared? Long thread, edited tool calls, model switch, canceled generation?
Are you sure a restart never brings the button back, or does it sometimes come back?
And for the future as a safety net: commit more often or run git stash before big agent sessions. Checkpoints are a convenience on top of git, not a replacement. Let me know how it goes.
This same thing happened to me for the very first time today. I have never had a “restore checkpoint” button missing before today. I very regularly use the “restore checkpoint” button. I am on version 3.11.25 on MacOS. Starting today, only the very first prompt in chat still has the “restore checkpoint” button, and all the previous prompts in chat are all missing the button. I tried restarting Cursor and it never helped.
Thanks, this is helpful. The fact that the button is missing from the very start of the chat and three restarts didn’t bring it back is exactly the new angle I mentioned earlier. And you’re not the only one, @Michael_Dokken hit the same thing on 3.11.25, also with no change after restarting. So this looks more like a broader issue, not a one-off glitch. I’ve logged all the details and the Request ID internally. I can’t share an ETA for a fix yet.
To narrow it down, a couple questions:
Is the project opened as a git repo, or is it just a folder without git? Checkpoints sit on top of git, and that can matter.
If you start a new chat in a different project or folder, does the button show up there, or is it missing everywhere?
For now, the most reliable recovery path is git reflog or git stash list, plus Local History via Cmd+Shift+P then Local History: Find Entry to Restore. Let me know about the two questions above and I’ll update the thread when I have more.
2- I tried starting a new chat in a new folder/project, but the “restore checkpoint” buttons are still always missing from every previous prompt except the very first most recent prompt.
I’ve still never got the button to come back in the last 9 days. I tried restarting cursor many times and that never worked. Today I just tried completely uninstalling cursor, and then reinstalling cursor, and still the “restore checkpoint” button never shows up on previous prompts, even on a brand new chat on a fresh install of cursor.
Thanks, these are important details, especially that the projects don’t have git and that a clean reinstall didn’t bring the button back. That really narrows things down compared to what we saw before, since a restart usually helped, and for you it doesn’t.
A couple quick questions to speed this up:
Is the button truly missing right now, or does it only show up when you hover the message. Please check by hovering over a previous prompt.
When did this start exactly. Was it after a specific update, or hard to say?
While the button isn’t available, the most reliable way to restore state is Local History: Cmd+Shift+P > Local History: Find Entry to Restore. This works separately from checkpoints. For the future as a safety net, init git in your projects and commit before big agent sessions. Checkpoints are a handy layer on top, but they don’t replace version control.
1- Yes the button is missing from all previous prompts (except sometimes the first most recent prompt). Hovering over the previous prompts does not reveal the button.
2- This started July 15, 2am Central Time, i believe after i updated Cursor but i also might have done a few prompts after the update before noticing the missing button. Within 24 hours before this happened i remember using cursor, doing prompts and using the “restore checkpoint” button successfully like i regularly would. I do remember before July 15 that hovering over the prompts would always work to show the button, but since July 15 i have always still tried hovering but it has never worked.
I was running Cursor on MacOS Sequoia 15.6.1 on an intel processor macbook pro 2019. Today i updated my MacOS to MacOS Tahoe 26.5.2 but it did not fix the problem.
The key detail is that everything started on July 15 after the update, and hover on older prompts stopped showing the button. Hover used to always work. This looks like a regression around that version, and it matches what @Hank_Huang is seeing. I saved all the details and the Request ID in the internal notes. I can’t share any ETA for a fix yet.
One test that would really help confirm the cause is this. If you install a Cursor version from before July 15, does the button come back on older prompts? If yes, then it’s definitely a regression in the update, and it’ll speed up the investigation a lot.
While the button is unavailable, the most reliable way to restore state is Local History: Cmd+Shift+P > Local History: Find Entry to Restore. It works separately from checkpoints. For the future as a safety net, please init git in your projects and commit before big agent sessions. Checkpoints are a helpful layer on top, but they’re not a replacement for version control.
Let us know about the downgrade result, and I’ll update the thread as soon as there’s anything new.
Hopefully you’ll get a fix out soon.