Scripts run in terminal fail

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Running commands in the IDE’s integrated terminal can fail because ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE is being set in the terminal’s environment.

This affects the integrated terminal as well as agent terminals.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open an integrated terminal
  2. Run any of the following example commands that no longer work in Cursor IDE’s terminal:
    cursor --wait
    npx cypress verify

Expected Behavior

The commands work as they do in any non-Cursor terminal.

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.0.77
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: ba90f2f88e4911312761abab9492c42442117cf0
Date: 2025-11-13T23:10:43.113Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.6.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

N/A

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

N/A

Additional Information

As a workaround, running unset ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE any time you open a new terminal temporarily fixes the issue.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

1 Like
2

Having the same issue. No “RUN” whatever commands complete. They pop up like they are being ran, but the little spinning icon to show it’s working just keeps spinning forever and ever.

1 Like
3

Hey @gk-bbai,

Thanks for the report.

I can’t reproduce this on 2.1.42. Could you try upgrading and let me know if the issue persists?

@Vaggumon, would you mind sharing your info from Cursor > About Cursor as well? To confirm it’s the same issue, could you also try @gk-bbai’s workaround?

4

I think there is a general issue in the newest version of Cursor. I’m seeing this “spinning forever” issue on file edits as well.

Req ID: b278cc5c-da88-4770-8e4f-5dda33b09eba

Version: 2.1.42
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 2e353c5f5b30150ff7b874dee5a87660693d9de0
Date: 2025-12-01T02:18:26.377Z
Electron: 37.7.0
Chromium: 138.0.7204.251
Node.js: 22.20.0
V8: 13.8.258.32-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 25.1.0

5

Thank you for confirming that. I did some additional digging and it seems the issue is caused by a terminal management extension that was updated recently: Does terminals manager set process.env.ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE? · Issue #104 · fabiospampinato/vscode-terminals · GitHub.

6

Possibly related issue: MAJOR ISSUE: Agent terminal set "ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE" - #8 by ravirahman .

7

Great find @gk-bbai! Can you confirm rolling back the version fixes the issue?

@quantizor / @Vaggumon are you also using fabiospampinato/vscode-terminals?

8

Confirmed – if you use that “Terminals Manager” extension and are having issues launching Electron-based apps from the integrated CLI, downgrade that extension to the latest 1.x version.

1 Like
9

Sorry for late reply, had some family emergency come up. Yes, I was running the same extension and downgrading it appears to have fixed the issues.

1 Like
10

I would very much appreciate some detailed guidance to resolve this issue. The agent not being able to use the terminal is KILLING my workflow!

11

It will depend on exactly what your issue is, if it’s the one I was having with the extension, downgrading to a pre 2.0 version fixed it. If it’s something to do with Cursor and the Terminal communicating, there are a ton of reasons this could be chapping. I have read a couple of people having luck by making Cursor use Windows Command Prompt instead of PowerShell, but YMMV. If you ask Cursor how to change the Terminal to Command Prompt it should give you step by step instructions. But if not, just open settings and search for “terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows” without the quotes. Change the setting from PowerShell to Windows Command Prompt. If that doesn’t work for you, I’m not sure what else to try sorry.

12

Thank you. I don’t have the extension, so that’s not my problem. It is killing me though.

13

Hey @b0bbyd1gital,

Sorry to hear you’re still not up and running!

A great troubleshooting step in cases like this is to run cursor --disable-extensions and see if the behavior changes.

It’s also worth trying the earlier workaround to determine whether it’s the same issue (related to ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE) or something different:

14

Thank you for the suggestions. I just tried those solutions, and none were successful at resolving the issue.

15

Thanks @b0bbyd1gital

Can I suggest you raise a new bug report, including the information from (Menu → About Cursor → Copy), and a request ID?