Windows agent shell: ~17–30s overhead fixed by Legacy Terminal + reload (Cursor 3.14.7)

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Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Cursor Agent Shell Hang / Slow Startup on Windows

This is the result of a 6+ hour debug session, after which I despise Windows even more.

Bug report documenting agent terminal behavior observed while working on a SvelteKit repo (August 2026).

Summary

On Windows, Cursor agent shell commands either hang indefinitely (Git Bash) or complete successfully but with large fixed overhead (PowerShell), while the same commands run in the integrated terminal in under ~500 ms.

This is not caused by project configuration, shell profiles, or the commands themselves.

Workaround found: enable Legacy Terminal in Cursor settings, then reload the window. Agent shell overhead dropped from ~17–31 s to ~1 s per invocation (command body ~13 ms).

Without Legacy Terminal, the default agent shell integration on Windows appears broken or unusably slow.

Environment

Item Value
OS Windows 11 Pro, 25H2
OS build 26200.8875 (installed 14 Jul 2025)
Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.334.0
Node process.platform win32 (build 10.0.26200 — legacy version tuple)
Editor Cursor 3.14.7 (a758f2241ca99fecf380180b6cbdbbce0f1f42c0, x64)
Cursor install path %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor\
Legacy Terminal On (Settings → search “legacy terminal”) — reload required after toggling
Workspace C:\TEMP\GitHub\videoscan
Workspace .vscode/settings.json No terminal settings — only "*.css": "tailwind"
Cursor user settings "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Git Bash" (initial); switched to PowerShell during debugging
PowerShell profile None (Test-Path $PROFILE → False)
PowerShell 7 (current) 7.6.4 via winget
PowerShell 7 path (current) C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.PowerShell_7.6.4.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\pwsh.exe
Stale install (removed) C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe — 7.6.3

Symptoms

1. Git Bash — commands hang or abort

With Git Bash as the default terminal profile (Cursor user settings):

  • Agent Shell tool calls never completed promptly
  • Simple commands like echo ok and git status were interrupted after ~90 seconds with no usable output
  • Non-shell tools (Read, Grep, Glob) continued to work normally

2. PowerShell (default agent shell) — commands work but are much slower than native

After switching the default terminal profile to PowerShell (Cursor user settings), without Legacy Terminal:

  • Commands do complete with exit code 0
  • Every command incurs significant fixed overhead, largely independent of command complexity

Agent timings — initial session (PowerShell 7.6.3 + stale Program Files install):

Command Agent time Exit
echo ok ~31.1 s 0
cmd /c echo ok-from-cmd ~27.2 s 0
powershell -NoProfile -Command "echo ok" ~28.7 s 0
echo ok-direct ~28.1 s 0

Agent timings — after PowerShell 7.6.4 upgrade (winget, stale 7.6.3 removed), Legacy Terminal off:

Command Agent time Exit Notes
echo agent-shell-ok ~17.3 s 0
pwsh -NoProfile -Command '$PSVersionTable.PSVersion' ~17.6 s 0 Reports 7.6.4
pnpm test:unit ~19.7 s 0 Vitest itself: 204 ms, 12 tests passed

Agent timings — Legacy Terminal on + window reload:

Command Agent time Exit Notes
echo post-reload-test ~0.9 s 0
Measure-Command { echo ok } ~13 ms (command body) 0 Agent wall time ~0.95 s

Same machine, user’s integrated terminal:

Measure-Command { powershell -NoProfile -Command "exit 0" }
# TotalMilliseconds: ~481

powershell -NoProfile -Command "echo ok"
# ok — no perceptible delay

Dual PowerShell 7 installs (Windows-specific)

After winget upgrade Microsoft.PowerShell, two pwsh.exe locations coexisted:

Profile / path Version
C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe 7.6.3 (stale)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\pwsh.exe 7.6.4 (winget app alias)

where.exe pwsh listed Program Files first, so PATH and the PowerShell 7 terminal profile opened the old build. Cursor’s auto-detected PowerShell profile used the WindowsApps alias (7.6.4).

Resolved by removing the stale 7.6.3 install and confirming agent pwsh resolves to 7.6.4 under WindowsApps.

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open this repo (or any repo) on Windows 11 in Cursor.
  2. Ensure Legacy Terminal is off (default).
  3. Set "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "Git Bash" in Cursor user settings (this repo’s .vscode/settings.json has no terminal config).
  4. Ask the agent to run echo ok via the Shell tool.
  5. Observe: command hangs or is aborted after a long timeout (~90 s).

Then (PowerShell, Legacy Terminal off):

  1. Change the default profile to "PowerShell" in Cursor user settings.
  2. Reload Cursor (or start a new agent session).
  3. Ask the agent to run echo ok again.
  4. Observe: command succeeds but takes ~17–31 s end-to-end (varies with PowerShell install state).

Workaround (Legacy Terminal on):

  1. Enable Legacy Terminal in Cursor settings.
  2. Developer: Reload Window (toggle alone is not enough if the session started before the change).
  3. Ask the agent to run echo ok again.
  4. Observe: command succeeds in ~1 s with correct output and exit code.

Compare with running the same command manually in the integrated terminal — completes in < 1 s.

Expected Behavior

Expected Behavior

Agent shell commands should:

  • Start and finish with overhead comparable to the integrated terminal (on the order of hundreds of milliseconds, not tens of seconds)
  • Not hang indefinitely on Git Bash for trivial non-interactive commands
  • Not require Legacy Terminal, shell profile changes, or other hidden settings as a workaround

Actual Behavior

  • Git Bash: agent shell appears broken (hang / timeout)
  • PowerShell (default agent shell, Legacy Terminal off): works but adds ~17–31 s fixed overhead per invocation
  • Legacy Terminal on + reload: agent shell works at ~1 s wall time — acceptable, but a undocumented workaround
  • -NoProfile does not help the agent (user has no profile file anyway)
  • Overhead without Legacy Terminal is in Cursor agent shell integration, not in PowerShell startup or test runtime
  • Agent shell wrapper may use Windows PowerShell 5.1 syntax rules — && fails; use ; instead

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 3.14.7 (user setup)
VS Code Extension API: 1.128.0
Commit: a758f2241ca99fecf380180b6cbdbbce0f1f42c0
Date: 2026-07-30T06:41:34.009Z
Layout: IDE
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 40.10.3
Chromium: 144.0.7559.236
Node.js: 24.15.0
V8: 14.4.258.32-electron.0
xterm.js: 6.1.0-beta.291
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26200

For AI issues: which model did you use?

Composer 2.5 Fast

Additional Information

Ruled Out

Hypothesis Result
PowerShell $PROFILE scripts Ruled out — profile does not exist
powershell -NoProfile Ruled out — agent still ~28 s (before upgrade, Legacy Terminal off)
Project .npmrc / script-shell Ruled out — .npmrc has no shell override
Command complexity Ruled out — echo ok same order of cost as pnpm test:unit agent wall time (Legacy Terminal off)
CRLF in repo shell scripts Separate issue; fixed for scripts/*.sh, unrelated to agent spawn time
Stale PowerShell 7.6.3 install Partial factor — removing it reduced overhead ~28 s → ~17 s; did not fix root cause alone
Antivirus exclusions Not tested — user declined; native terminal speed (~481 ms) without AV changes suggests AV is unlikely to be the primary cause

Workaround

  1. Enable Legacy Terminal in Cursor settings, then reload the window — reduces agent shell overhead from ~17–31 s to ~1 s.
  2. Set "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows": "PowerShell" in Cursor user settings (Git Bash breaks the agent entirely).
  3. Ensure only one PowerShell 7 install is on PATH (where.exe pwsh → single 7.6.4 entry).
  4. In agent shell commands, use PowerShell ; separators instead of &&.

Suggested Fix (for Cursor team)

  • Fix the default agent shell integration on Windows — it should not require Legacy Terminal.
  • Make Legacy Terminal setting take effect without a full reload, or document the reload requirement.
  • Investigate why the non-legacy path adds ~17–31 s per command vs ~1 s with Legacy Terminal.
  • Fix or document Git Bash compatibility for agent automation on Windows.
  • Document which PowerShell executable the agent invokes on Windows.

Related forum threads

Same problem family on Windows (agent shell vs integrated terminal). This report adds the slow-but-working symptom and the Legacy Terminal + reload workaround.

Thread Symptom
Agent terminal hangs — no exit status Total failure, no exit status
Legacy terminal required Agent only works with Legacy Terminal
Agent shell — no exit status on Windows 11 - agent-shell-commands-never-execute-on-windows-11-no-exit-status/166112) No exit status on Windows 11
Agent terminal — no captured output - windows-agent-terminal-tool-no-captured-output-0ms-exit-0-integrated-cmd-works-legacy-terminal-enabled-powershell-blocked-by-policy/156312 Legacy Terminal + policy issues

References

  • This repo’s .vscode/settings.json — editor only (files.associations for Tailwind CSS); not related to the bug
  • Cursor user settings — where terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.windows was changed during debugging
  • Cursor endpoint security docs/enterprise/endpoint-security — AV exclusion guidance (not tested; listed for completeness only)
  • Related prior issue in this project: Git Bash + script-shell=bash.exe in .npmrc caused invisible background processes (reverted; not the same as this agent bug)

PowerShell upgrade notes

winget upgrade --id Microsoft.PowerShell --exact
where.exe pwsh
pwsh -NoProfile -Command '$PSVersionTable.PSVersion; (Get-Command pwsh).Source'

If two versions appear, remove the stale install via Settings → Apps or winget uninstall Microsoft.PowerShell followed by a fresh winget install.

Other resolved issues (same session)

  • PSReadLine warning on terminal open (PowerShell 7.6.4 / WindowsApps): fixed by Install-Module PSReadLine -Scope CurrentUser and full Cursor restart (taskkill /IM Cursor.exe /F).

Generated from a debugging session while setting up integration tests in the videoscan SvelteKit project. Updated after PowerShell 7.6.4 upgrade, Legacy Terminal workaround, and post-reload retest.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

5

Hey, this is one of the most thorough reports I’ve seen. Thanks for writing down the timings, environment, and what you ruled out.

What you described is a known issue we’re tracking. On Windows, especially build 10.0.26200 plus PowerShell 7, the non-legacy agent shell adds a big fixed overhead when detecting command completion, and with Git Bash it can hang. Your conclusion is correct. This is in Cursor’s agent shell integration, not your profiles, npmrc, or the commands themselves.

On your points:

  • Legacy Terminal plus reload is currently a working workaround, and the drop from about 17 to 31 s down to about 1 s matches what we’re seeing. It’s also really helpful that Legacy specifically removed the delay for you. I shared that with the team as an extra signal.
  • Reload after switching Legacy Terminal, yes, that’s another known issue. The setting is only read when the session starts right now. For now this is expected behavior, and we’ll improve the docs and behavior.
  • Git Bash, the agent is currently unstable with it on Windows. PowerShell as the default profile is the more reliable option, like you found.
  • && vs ;, yes, the non-legacy wrapper on Windows often resolves to Windows PowerShell 5.1, which doesn’t have the pipeline chain operators, so ; is more reliable.

I can’t share an exact timeline for a fix yet, but I’ll post in the thread when there’s an update. For now, stick with Legacy Terminal plus a PowerShell profile. That’s the most stable setup on Windows right now.