Workspace-specific blank window caused by cursor/editorLayout.auxiliaryBarVisible=true in workspaceStorage

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Related (closed): Blank Cursor Window

Cursor opens a completely blank window for a specific workspace. Other workspaces open normally.

The issue is caused by a single workspaceStorage entry:
cursor/editorLayout.auxiliaryBarVisible = true

If this key exists in the workspace’s state.vscdb, Cursor opens a blank window on startup.
Deleting only this key immediately fixes the issue without deleting the rest of the workspace state.

The SQLite database itself is not corrupted (PRAGMA integrity_check returns OK).

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open a workspace in Cursor.
  2. Enable the auxiliary bar (or otherwise cause Cursor to store auxiliary bar layout state).
  3. Close Cursor.
  4. Ensure the workspaceStorage DB contains:
    cursor/editorLayout.auxiliaryBarVisible = true
    (stored in ~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage//state.vscdb)
  5. Restart Cursor.

Result: Cursor opens with a completely blank main window for that workspace.
Note: Other workspaces open normally; the issue is workspace-specific.

Expected Behavior

Cursor should safely restore (or ignore) incompatible workspace layout state.
A single workspaceStorage key should not cause the entire IDE window to render blank.
If layout restoration fails, Cursor should fall back to a default layout.

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

Version: 2.4.35
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: d2bf8ec12017b1049f304ad3a5c8867b117ed830
Date: 2026-02-10T02:46:56.793Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Default
Electron: 39.2.7
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.17.0-8-generic (Ubuntu 25.10)

Additional Information

The issue can be fixed non-destructively by deleting only this key from the workspace DB:

DELETE FROM ItemTable
WHERE key = ‘cursor/editorLayout.auxiliaryBarVisible’;

Deleting the entire state.vscdb also fixes the issue, but unnecessarily loses workspace state.

The stored value is simply ‘true’ (4 bytes), which appears valid.
This suggests a regression or migration issue in workspace layout restoration involving the auxiliary bar.

Confirmed that an empty state.vscdb allows the workspace to open normally.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

Cursor won’t open / loads blank window for a specific project
Blank window when opening specific project; fixed by deleting workspaceStorage (chat history lost)
Cursor displays a blank layout after opening the project
3

Confirmed deterministic repro on Linux (Cursor 2.4.35).

I can now reliably reproduce this issue and confirm it is caused by workspace-persisted layout state after using “Open Chat as Editor.”

Reproduction steps (100% repro):

  1. Open a workspace normally
  2. Open the AI Chat panel
  3. Select “Open Chat as Editor”
  4. The chat editor fails to open and an error is shown in the chat panel
  5. Exit Cursor
  6. Restart Cursor
  7. Cursor opens with a blank window (IDE unusable)

This is workspace-specific. Other folders open normally.

After the failure, the workspace storage database
~/.config/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage//state.vscdb
contains persisted composer/editor layout keys such as:

  • composer.composerData
  • cursor/needsComposerInitialOpening
  • workbench.panel.composerChatViewPane.
  • workbench.backgroundComposer.workspacePersistentData
  • large layout blobs like workbench.auxiliarybar.viewContainersWorkspaceState

Removing only the key cursor/editorLayout.auxiliaryBarVisible (or deleting the workspace state.vscdb) immediately restores Cursor.

This strongly suggests a bug in workspace layout persistence / replay when “Open Chat as Editor” fails: an invalid editor/layout state is persisted and then crashes layout restoration on startup, resulting in a blank window.

This matches similar reports on Windows and appears to be cross-platform.

5

Hey, thanks for the report. Great level of detail, especially that you found the exact key in state.vscdb.

This is a known issue with “Open Chat as Editor”. It saves the layout state incorrectly in workspace storage, and after a restart Cursor can’t restore the layout. There are a couple similar cases on the forum, including this one on Windows: Blank Cursor Window

I’ve passed this info to the team. Your workaround of deleting a single key instead of the whole state.vscdb is a helpful addition, so users won’t lose all workspace state.

For now, it’s best to avoid “Open Chat as Editor” until it’s fixed.