Urgent: Cursor 3.21.18 Chat Completely Stuck — Please Help Resolve This

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1

I am extremely frustrated and honestly desperate for a solution to this issue.

I am running Cursor on Windows 10. Everything was working perfectly when I was using Cursor version 3.18.25. However, after updating to version 3.21.18, the Chat feature has become practically unusable.

The problem is very specific:

  • When I type a message in the Chat window and send it, the chat gets stuck and does not respond at all.

  • There is no useful response, and I cannot continue working normally.

  • If I downgrade Cursor back to version 3.18.25, the Chat works perfectly again.

  • This strongly suggests that something introduced or changed in the newer version is causing the problem in my environment.

What makes this even more frustrating is that Cursor automatically updates itself back to the newer version after I close and reopen the application.

I have already tried disabling automatic updates through my settings:

“update.mode”: “none”,
“update.enableWindowsBackgroundUpdates”: false

Despite this, Cursor still updates itself to the newer version.

At this point, I am stuck in a cycle:

Version 3.21.18 → Chat does not work → Downgrade to 3.18.25 → Chat works → Close/reopen Cursor → Cursor automatically updates → Chat stops working again.

This is seriously disrupting my work, and I need a reliable solution.

Please investigate the following:

  1. Why does Chat get stuck in Cursor 3.21.18 on my Windows 10 system while it works normally in 3.18.25?

  2. Is there a known bug or regression in version 3.21.18 that could cause Chat to stop responding?

  3. Why is Cursor automatically updating despite "update.mode": "none" and "update.enableWindowsBackgroundUpdates": false?

  4. Is there another supported way to prevent Cursor from automatically updating until this issue is fixed?

  5. What logs or diagnostic information do you need from me to identify the root cause?

  6. When can I expect a fix for this issue?

I really need help resolving this rather than simply being told to reinstall or update again, because the older version demonstrably works on the exact same machine and environment.

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2

Hi there!

We detected that this may be a bug report, so we’ve moved your post to the Bug Reports category.

To help us investigate and fix this faster, could you edit your original post to include the details from the template below?

Bug Report Template - Click to expand

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

  • Editor, Tab & Chat (autocomplete, Composer, in-editor agent)
  • Terminal & commands
  • Models, pricing & API keys (availability, Auto/Max, BYOK/Bedrock)
  • MCP & tools
  • Cloud Agents & Automations (cursor.com/agents, scheduled/event)
  • BugBot & Code Review
  • Cursor CLI
  • Cursor Mobile
  • Remote (SSH / Dev Containers / WSL)
  • Account, billing & login
  • Something else…

Describe the Bug
A clear and concise description of what the bug is.

Steps to Reproduce
How can you reproduce this bug? We have a much better chance at fixing issues if we can reproduce them!

  1. …
  2. …
  3. …

Expected Behavior
What is meant to happen here that isn’t working correctly?

Screenshots / Screen Recordings
If applicable, attach images or videos (.jpg, .png, .gif, .mp4, .mov)

Operating System

  • Windows 10/11
  • MacOS
  • Linux

Version Information

  • For Cursor IDE: Menu → About Cursor → Copy
  • For Cursor CLI: Run agent about in your terminal
IDE:
Version: 2.xx.x
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: ......

CLI:
CLI Version 2026.01.17-d239e66

For AI issues: which model did you use?
Model name (e.g., Sonnet 4, Tab…)

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled
Request ID: f9a7046a-279b-47e5-ab48-6e8dc12daba1
For Background Agent issues, also post the ID: bc-…

Additional Information
Add any other context about the problem here.

Does this stop you from using Cursor?

  • Yes - Cursor is unusable
  • Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor
  • No - Cursor works, but with this issue

The more details you provide, the easier it is for us to reproduce and fix the issue. Thanks!

8

Hey @Divergent_Technologi, thanks for the detailed report, and sorry this has been getting in the way of your work.

You’re not doing anything wrong here. On 3.21.18, a message sent from the editor chat can get stuck on your machine before it reaches our servers. That’s why 3.18.25 works fine on the same setup. This is an issue we’re tracking. I don’t have a timeline yet, but I’ll post here when there’s an update.

To keep working on 3.21.18

  1. Use the Agents Window. Press Ctrl+Shift+P and run New Agents Window. Chat there isn’t affected by this issue. More info: Agents Window | Cursor Docs
  2. In the IDE editor, close all tabs before sending. Press Ctrl+Shift+P and run View: Close All Tabs. This helps for as long as the tabs stay closed.
  3. Leave terminal output out of your messages for now, like the terminals\1.txt selection in your screenshot. If a stuck message had terminal output attached, start a new chat without it instead of retrying.

To stay on 3.18.25 instead:

Update Mode only works from your user settings, and only after Cursor restarts. If it’s set in a project’s .vscode/settings.json, or if an update had already been downloaded before you changed it, that update can still be installed when you quit. Turning off background updates doesn’t stop updates on its own.

  1. On the version you have now, open Settings (Ctrl+,), stay on the User tab, search for update mode, and set Update: Mode to none.
  2. Fully quit Cursor. In Task Manager, check that no Cursor.exe is still running.
  3. Install 3.18.25.
  4. Open Cursor and check Help > About. It should stay on 3.18.25 from now on. If it switches back again, let me know here.

Let me know any follow-up questions! Sorry for the frustration - we are here to help you.

10

Hey @Divergent_Technologi,

Good news, the issue where chat gets stuck after you send a message on 3.21 has been fixed in Cursor 3.22, which is now the current version.

If you followed the steps above to stay on 3.18.25, you can now set Update: Mode back to default in your User settings (Ctrl+,), restart Cursor, and let it update to the latest version. Help > About should show 3.22 or newer.

Give the editor chat another try after that, and let me know if it still gets stuck.