Cursor Common Errors & Solutions

Authentication Errors

"Authentication Failed"

Symptoms: Can't sign in, "Authentication failed" message

Solutions:
1. Clear browser cookies and cache
2. Try different auth method (GitHub/Google/Email)
3. Check firewall/VPN settings
4. Verify account at cursor.com
5. Restart Cursor completely

"Session Expired"

Symptoms: Logged out unexpectedly, features stop working

Solutions:
1. Sign out and sign back in
2. Check internet connection
3. Verify subscription status
4. Clear Cursor cache: Cmd+Shift+P > "Clear Cache"

Completion Errors

"Completions Not Appearing"

Symptoms: No ghost text, Tab does nothing

Checklist:
[ ] Check rate limits (status bar)
[ ] Verify completion is enabled (Settings)
[ ] Check network connectivity
[ ] Restart Cursor
[ ] Check file type is supported

Settings to verify:
{
  "cursor.completion.enabled": true,
  "editor.inlineSuggest.enabled": true
}

"Slow Completions"

Symptoms: Long delay before suggestions appear

Solutions:
1. Switch to faster model (GPT-3.5-turbo)
2. Check network latency
3. Reduce context size
4. Close unused tabs
5. Check CPU usage

"Wrong/Irrelevant Completions"

Symptoms: Suggestions don't match context

Solutions:
1. Add better comments/docstrings
2. Update .cursorrules file
3. Re-index codebase
4. Clear chat context
5. Verify correct language mode

Indexing Errors

"Indexing Failed"

Symptoms: @codebase doesn't work, search fails

Solutions:
1. Check disk space
2. Exclude large folders (.git, node_modules)
3. Restart indexing: Cmd+Shift+P > "Reindex"
4. Check file permissions
5. Reduce codebase size if too large

Exclusions (.cursorignore):
node_modules/
.git/
dist/
build/
*.lock

"Indexing Stuck"

Symptoms: Progress bar frozen, never completes

Solutions:
1. Cancel and restart indexing
2. Clear index cache
3. Check for circular symlinks
4. Exclude problematic directories
5. Restart Cursor

API Key Errors

"Invalid API Key"

Symptoms: "API key invalid" message

Checklist:
[ ] Key hasn't expired
[ ] Key has correct permissions
[ ] Key is for correct service (OpenAI/Anthropic)
[ ] No extra spaces in key
[ ] Account has credits/active subscription

"Rate Limited"

Symptoms: "Rate limit exceeded" errors

Solutions:
1. Wait for limit reset (usually hourly)
2. Upgrade plan for higher limits
3. Use your own API key
4. Switch to different model
5. Reduce request frequency

Extension Conflicts

"Extensions Not Working"

Symptoms: VS Code extensions behave differently

Common conflicts:
- Copilot (disable one or the other)
- TabNine
- IntelliCode
- Other AI assistants

Solution: Disable conflicting extensions

"Keybinding Conflicts"

Symptoms: Shortcuts don't work, wrong actions

Debug steps:
1. Cmd+K Cmd+S > Search for shortcut
2. Identify conflicts
3. Rebind conflicting keys
4. Check extension keybindings

Performance Errors

"High CPU Usage"

Symptoms: Cursor uses 100% CPU, system slow

Solutions:
1. Disable unused extensions
2. Close unused tabs
3. Exclude large folders from watch
4. Reduce completion model complexity
5. Check for infinite loops in extensions

Settings:
{
  "files.watcherExclude": {
    "**/node_modules/**": true,
    "**/.git/**": true
  }
}

"High Memory Usage"

Symptoms: Cursor using GB of RAM

Solutions:
1. Restart Cursor
2. Close unused workspaces
3. Limit search scope
4. Disable memory-heavy extensions
5. Reduce open files

Chat Errors

"Chat Not Responding"

Symptoms: Messages not sent, spinning forever

Solutions:
1. Check network connection
2. Verify API key/subscription
3. Start new chat (Cmd+Shift+L)
4. Check rate limits
5. Restart Cursor

"Context Too Large"

Symptoms: "Context length exceeded" error

Solutions:
1. Start new chat
2. Select less code
3. Be more specific in @-mentions
4. Remove unnecessary context
5. Use summary instead of full files

Crash Recovery

Cursor Crashes on Launch

Solutions:
1. Start with extensions disabled:
   cursor --disable-extensions

2. Reset user data:
   rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Cursor/

3. Reinstall Cursor

4. Check system requirements

Unsaved Work Lost

Recovery options:
1. Check backup folder:
   ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/Backups/

2. Check git stash:
   git stash list

3. Check local history:
   Right-click file > "Local History"

Error Log Locations

Finding Logs

# macOS
~/Library/Logs/Cursor/

# Linux
~/.config/Cursor/logs/

# Windows
%APPDATA%\Cursor\logs\

# View in Cursor
Help > Toggle Developer Tools > Console

Reporting Issues

Include:
- Cursor version (Help > About)
- OS version
- Error message
- Steps to reproduce
- Relevant logs