Cursor Slow, High CPU or Memory Usage

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Find the process

   Copy steps
   1. Run Developer: Open Process Explorer from the Command Palette
   2. Note whether extensionHost, git or the main process is climbing
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Open a single repo

   Copy steps
   1. Open the project folder, not a parent that contains many repositories
   2. Settings: set git.autoRepositoryDetection to false if needed
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Exclude large folders

   Copy steps
   1. Add node_modules, dist, build to .cursorignore
   2. Add them to files.watcherExclude and search.exclude
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Rule out extensions

   1. Run cursor --disable-extensions, then re-enable one at a time
   Did this fix it? Yes No

5. 5. Update or roll back

   1. Update to the latest build; some versions (3.16-3.18 on Windows) had reports of leaks
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

UI lags, fans spin, RAM climbs past many GB, or Cursor freezes during agent codebase search.

Why it happens

• Opening a parent folder with many git repos
• Extension host processes
• File watcher on huge folders (node_modules, build output)
• Agent codebase search and index growth
• Version regressions reported on Windows

This guide also covers

• why is cursor so slow
• cursor high memory
• cursor high cpu usage
• cursor freezing

Other Cursor errors

• Cursor Usage Limit Reached
• Cursor Rate Limit Exceeded
• Cursor Agent Not Working
• Cursor High Load Error (ERROR_RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED)
• Cursor Keeps Reconnecting or Connection Failed
• Cursor Extensions Not Working or Not Found
• Cursor MCP Not Working: Server Connected but No Tools
• Can't Use Cursor Auto After Included Usage Is Gone