Saving files on project load

[mwjt42]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Opening an existing project, Cursor starts saving loads of files

Steps to Reproduce

Open an existing project

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.2.36 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 55c9bc11e99cedd1fb93fbb7996abf779c583150
Date: 2025-12-18T06:25:21.733Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

Additional Information

Win11+wsl

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

[deanrie]

Hey, thanks for the report.

Based on the symptoms, it looks like an extensions issue in a WSL environment. For diagnosis:

1. Try launching Cursor with extensions disabled:

   • Close Cursor
   • Run from the command line: cursor --disable-extensions
   • Open your project and check if the issue persists

2. If it works with extensions disabled, re‑enable extensions one by one to find the culprit

3. Also help with diagnostics:

   • Help > Toggle Developer Tools > Console - do you see any errors?
   • Which extensions are installed? (especially those related to autosave/formatting)
   • What’s the version of the Remote - WSL extension?

Let me know the results and we’ll dig in further.

[Jannie_Gill]

I’m having the exact same issue on Windows/WSL. It seems to happen specifically when the indexer kicks in. If you have a huge .gitignore or a lot of node_modules, maybe try re-indexing the project from the settings? It worked for me once, but then the ‘saving’ ghost came back. Definitely a bug!