Cursor stuck on "Waiting for extension host"? Extensions dead, AI panel spinning, Git features gone? Work through this list top to bottom. The first step fixes most cases in under a minute.
1. Restart just the extension host
Open the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P, or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS) and run Developer: Restart Extension Host. This kills and relaunches the host process without closing your files. Transient startup failures clear here.
2. Find the bad extension
Quit Cursor and relaunch from a terminal with cursor --disable-extensions. If the hang is gone, one extension is the culprit. Re-enable in batches until the hang returns, then leave that one disabled and check for an update.
3. Delete the corrupt state database
Cursor keeps session state in a SQLite file. A corrupt entry blocks the host from loading:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\state.vscdb - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb - Linux:
~/.config/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb
Delete or rename it and restart. You will need to sign back in.
4. Update Cursor, then check the usual suspects
Update to the latest version first. After that, the repeat offenders are aggressive indexing on huge folders, WSL or Remote-SSH mounts that went stale, and antivirus holding the host process open.
Full guide with the WSL-specific path and prevention steps: https://automatelab.tech/blog/ai-coding/cursor-waiting-extension-host-fix/
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