[SOLVED] Terminal Output Not Showing in Agent Mode - Delete workspaceStorage Folder (v2.1.39, Windows 11)

[geoff_campbell]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

TL;DR: If your agent can’t see terminal output (commands execute with exit code 0 but return empty output), delete the workspaceStorage folder and restart Cursor. The location depends on your Cursor installation type.

WARNING: This will delete your chat history. See “Preventing Data Loss” section below.

---

The Problem

I was experiencing a critical bug where all terminal commands executed successfully (exit code 0) but returned completely empty output. This made the agent completely useless for:

• Running git commands
• Verifying command results
• Debugging anything
• Executing any terminal-based workflow

Affected Version: Cursor v2.1.39 on Windows 11 (build 26100)

I tried all the standard workarounds documented in the forums:

• Disabled GPU acceleration (Terminal › Integrated: Gpu Acceleration)
• Enabled “Use Preview Box” setting
• Cleared terminal state and restarted
• Started fresh chat sessions
• Tested with simple commands first

None of these worked. The issue persisted exactly as before.

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The Solution

Deleting the workspaceStorage folder completely resolved it. The location depends on your Cursor installation type:

Step 1: Identify Your Installation Type

User-Level Installation (Most Common):

• Installed via the Cursor installer for your user account only
• Located in: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Programs\Cursor

System-Wide Installation:

• Installed for all users on the machine
• Located in: C:\Program Files\Cursor

Step 2: Delete workspaceStorage Based on Your Installation Type

For User-Level Installation (PowerShell):

Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage" -Recurse -Force

For User-Level Installation (Command Prompt):

rd /s /q "%APPDATA%\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage"

For System-Wide Installation (PowerShell):

Remove-Item "C:\ProgramData\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage" -Recurse -Force

For System-Wide Installation (Command Prompt):

rd /s /q "C:\ProgramData\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage"

Step 3: Restart Cursor

Close Cursor completely and reopen it.

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Results After Fix

All commands now work perfectly:

• echo commands
• PowerShell cmdlets (Get-Date, Write-Host)
• Git commands (git status, git log, git commit)
• Complex piped commands
• Long output (87+ lines captured correctly)
• Agent can now execute multi-step workflows

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Why This Happens

The workspaceStorage folder accumulates corrupted state that breaks the terminal output capture pipeline. This appears to be a known issue affecting multiple versions (1.2.4, 2.1.39) on Windows, but the standard workarounds don’t address the root cause.

The folder contains SQLite databases (state.vscdb files) that store both workspace state AND chat history, which is why this fix has a side effect (see below).

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Preventing Data Loss

IMPORTANT: Deleting workspaceStorage also deletes your chat history. Cursor stores chat data in the same location as workspace state.

To prevent losing your chat history, back up the workspaceStorage folder BEFORE deleting it:

For User-Level Installation (PowerShell):

$timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd_HHmmss'
Copy-Item "$env:APPDATA\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage" -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\workspaceStorage_backup_$timestamp" -Recurse

For System-Wide Installation (PowerShell):

$timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd_HHmmss'
Copy-Item "C:\ProgramData\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage" -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\workspaceStorage_backup_$timestamp" -Recurse

Better approach (more surgical):

Instead of deleting the entire workspaceStorage folder, try deleting only the corrupted workspace folders inside it (the md5-hash-named folders), which may preserve your chat history structure. Look for folders like:

fd84c037829daf424ecf3593ffdcb629
a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6

And delete only the ones causing issues.

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For Cursor Team

This should be the primary fix documented for “terminal output not showing” issues on Windows, ahead of the GPU acceleration and Preview Box workarounds. Recommendations:

1. Separate concerns: Don’t store corrupted state and chat history in the same folder
2. Implement automatic cleanup: Detect and clean corrupted workspaceStorage state without user intervention
3. Add a warning system: Notify users when corrupted state is detected
4. Provide a repair tool: Create a “Repair Workspace” feature that cleans state without deleting chat data
5. Document this fix: Add it to the troubleshooting guide as the primary solution for terminal output issues on Windows
6. Document installation paths: Make it clear where workspaceStorage is located for different installation types

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Related Issues

This fix addresses the following known issues:

• Terminal output not showing in agent mode (exit code 0 but empty output)
• Agent unable to see command results
• Git operations appearing to fail silently
• Complex terminal workflows hanging or stalling
• Commands executing but output never being captured

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, try this solution before other workarounds.

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Additional Resources

• Chat history is stored in SQLite databases (state.vscdb files)
• Each workspace has its own md5-hash-named folder
• You can recover deleted chat history using SQLite database tools if needed

Steps to Reproduce

Reproduction Steps
Open Cursor IDE
Launch Cursor v2.1.39 on Windows 11
Open an existing project/workspace (preferably one with a git repository)
Enable Agent Mode
Open the Composer/Chat panel
Start a new agent conversation
Ask Agent to Run Basic Terminal Command
Request the agent to execute a simple command like:
echo “test output”
Get-Location
Write-Output “hello”
Observe Empty Output
Command executes successfully (shows “Exit code: 0”)
Command output section is completely empty
No error messages, no text, nothing
Verify Pattern Continues
Ask agent to run additional commands:
git status --short
git --version
dir | Select-Object -First 5
Get-Date
All commands return exit code 0
All commands return completely empty output
Attempt Standard Workarounds (All Fail)
Go to Settings → Terminal → Integrated: Gpu Acceleration → Disable
Restart Cursor
Test again → Issue persists
Enable “Use Preview Box” setting
Test again → Issue persists
Clear terminal state via Command Palette
Test again → Issue persists
Start fresh chat session
Test again → Issue persists
Verify Agent Cannot Proceed
Agent cannot see any command output
Agent cannot verify git operations
Agent cannot execute multi-step workflows
Agent reports commands succeeded but cannot access results
Expected Result
Terminal commands should execute and return their full output visible to both user and agent
Output should appear in the command response section
Agent should be able to read and work with command results
Example expected outputs:
echo “test” → Should show: test
git --version → Should show: git version 2.x.x.windows.x
Get-Date → Should show: Sunday, November 30, 2025 11:48:01 AM
Actual Result
Commands execute with exit code 0
Output section is completely empty (no text whatsoever)
Agent cannot see any terminal output
Agent cannot proceed with terminal-based workflows
Standard workarounds (GPU acceleration, Preview Box) do not resolve the issue

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 2.1.39 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 60d42bed27e5775c43ec0428d8c653c49e58e260
Date: 2025-11-27T02:30:49.286Z
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 10.0.26100

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

[L-Sun]

Very helpful!

[ben7th]

按照你说的方法，确实能解决问题。目前还有一种方法是，可以在历史对话里继续操作，历史对话执行 shell 命令还是正常的，但是新对话无论如何都不行。

删除 workspaceStorage 文件夹可以解决问题，但对话都丢了损失很大。希望官方赶紧更新修复这一问题。或者提供干净的历史对话的完整备份导出导入。

Using the method you mentioned does indeed solve the problem. Another approach is to continue working within the history dialogue, where executing shell commands still works normally. However, in a new dialogue, it simply doesn’t work no matter what.

Deleting the workspaceStorage folder can fix the issue, but it results in the loss of all dialogue history, which is a significant drawback. I hope the official team releases an update soon to resolve this problem. Alternatively, providing a clean way to fully back up and restore historical conversations would be helpful.

[Huddini]

Hi everyone,

Wanted to add more insights to this thread as my solution was slightly different:

Just confirming that the OP’s general solution worked for me (Although I found my workspace in the following folder directory): %AppData%\Roaming\Cursor\User\workspaceStorage

At the moment, you’d only need to delete the “state.vscdb” file found in the workspaceStorage folder directories. This seems to house all the chat-related sessions (though I don’t know what else it stores). There’s also a .backup file in there well for this state file.

Helpful tip: You can query your Cursor agent to identify which workspace belongs to your specific project that’s impacted by the terminal output bug. Just tell them there’s a critical bug with the IDE impacting its ability to read terminal logs and actually execute them

AFter I deleted this file, I opened Cursor, and not surprisingly, my chat history deleted. But my terminal outputs work as normal!

Thanks OP, you’re a lifesaver!

—
@Cursor team, I’m not sure what it is, but I just updated to the latest version today and I had these terminal issues occurring like OP. I’d consider this a critical bug since for some of us heavily reliant on an agent creating and running scripts, this becomes an app breaking bug. Agent-run commands were constantly advising “exit code 0” but when looking at actual content my scripts were supposed to produce, nothing was happening.

[user699 (Ana461)]

Thanks OP! This fixed it for me. Was a recurring issue for me that downgrading Cursor did not solve. Neither did reverting to Legacy Terminal.

edit: nvm. opening another agent instance breaks everything.

[user699 (Ana461)]

@Cursor Is there anyone working on this issue? Reinstalling does not fix the issue.

[CHAODOI (CHAODOI-AI)]

Version: 2.1.49 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 21a2ed198584d56a91c0b996d1a09c93f8538440
Date: 2025-12-05T07:49:06.016Z
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 10.0.19045

Bug Terminal cannot Output