TL;DR: Check status.codeium.com first. If it's green, the issue is almost always local: expired auth token (sign out and back in), firewall blocking Codeium's API endpoints (common on corporate networks), or stale connection after a Windsurf update (full restart usually fixes it). Free-tier accounts can hit daily usage limits — this isn't an outage. Fallbacks: Cursor IDE is the most direct substitute; VS Code + GitHub Copilot is faster to set up if you don't have it installed.
Windsurf's AI features stopped working. The autocomplete is gone, Cascade isn't responding, or the model indicator is showing a connection error. You're trying to figure out if Codeium's servers are having issues or if it's something on your end.
Here's how to figure that out quickly — and fix it.
Understanding Windsurf's Infrastructure
Quick context that matters for troubleshooting: Windsurf is an AI code editor built by Codeium. The editor shell (file navigation, terminal, basic editing) runs locally. The AI features — autocomplete, Cascade chat, codebase indexing — all depend on Codeium's cloud infrastructure.
So when Windsurf's AI features break, the cause is usually either:
- Codeium's servers having an issue
- Something broken in your local connection to those servers
- Account or authentication problems
The editor itself keeps running regardless. You can still write code manually, use git, run your terminal, and use non-AI extensions. The disruption is specifically to AI-assisted features.
Step-by-Step: How to Fix Windsurf AI Issues
Work through these in order.
Step 1: Check the official status page
Go to status.codeium.com. If there's an active incident on the Windsurf AI Features or API rows, stop here — it's a platform problem and you'll need to wait. Subscribe to email alerts and check back in 30 minutes.
Step 2: Restart Windsurf completely
Fully quit Windsurf — don't just close the window, quit the application — and reopen it. This is the fix for the most common cause of sudden AI feature loss: a stale connection left over from an update or background process issue. Not elegant, but it works surprisingly often.
Step 3: Sign out and sign back in
Windsurf requires you to be actively authenticated with your Codeium account. If the auth token expired:
- Click your account avatar in the Windsurf UI
- Select "Sign out"
- Sign back in with your Codeium credentials
- Wait 30 seconds for AI features to re-initialize
Expired authentication is the most common cause of AI disconnects that persist after a restart.
Step 4: Check your free-tier usage limits
If you're on the free Codeium tier, you have daily limits on completions and Cascade messages. When you hit those limits, features stop working until the next day — this is designed behavior, not an outage. Check your account dashboard at codeium.com to see your remaining usage for the day.
Step 5: Check for network/firewall interference
Corporate and university networks sometimes block requests to Codeium's API endpoints. Tell-tale signs: Windsurf AI works at home but not at the office, or it stopped working after connecting to a VPN. If this is the issue, your IT team would need to whitelist Codeium's domains. Try temporarily disabling any VPN you're connected to and test.
Step 6: Check Windsurf's command palette
Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) and run "Reload Window". This reloads the extension host without fully closing the editor and can restore a broken AI connection without losing your current work state.
How to Check Windsurf/Codeium Status
Official status page: status.codeium.com
This is the authoritative source. It covers Windsurf's AI services along with Codeium's other products (the VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, etc.). The components you care about most:
- Windsurf AI Features — autocomplete and Cascade
- API — the underlying model API
- Authentication — login and licensing
Green means operational. Yellow/orange means degraded performance. Red means major outage. If there's an active incident, there will be a timestamped banner with updates.
Community Resources for Status Confirmation
Codeium has an active community Discord. When Windsurf has problems, the developer community is usually one of the fastest signals:
- Windsurf Discord — Search for "down," "not working," or "connection" in the general channels. Staff often post updates directly in Discord during incidents, sometimes faster than the status page.
- Reddit r/windsurf_ai — Users report problems here quickly.
- GitHub — Check open issues on Codeium's GitHub for any recent reports.
Searching "Windsurf down" on X/Twitter also surfaces developer complaints in real time.
Common Windsurf Connection Issues (Detailed Fixes)
Authentication failures
Windsurf requires you to be logged into your Codeium account. If the auth token expired, you'll see connection errors that look like server problems but are actually account issues. Fix: sign out from the Codeium account menu in the IDE, then sign back in. If this keeps happening, check whether your Codeium session timeout settings allow longer sessions.
Firewall and proxy blocking
Corporate or university networks sometimes block requests to Codeium's API endpoints. If Windsurf works on your home network but not at work, this is likely the cause. Diagnosis: check Windsurf's Output panel (View → Output → Codeium) for SSL or connection refused errors to Codeium's domains. Resolution: work with your IT team to whitelist Codeium's API endpoints.
Stale connection after update
Windsurf updates frequently. Sometimes an update leaves the AI connection in a broken state. A full restart (quit and reopen) usually resolves this. If it persists, try: Windsurf command palette → "Reload Window." If that also fails, try signing out of Codeium and back in after the reload.
Proxy configuration
If your development environment routes traffic through a proxy, Windsurf's HTTP requests may fail unless you've configured the proxy settings in the IDE. Go to Windsurf Settings → search "proxy" → enter your proxy URL. This is separate from your system proxy settings; Windsurf needs it configured explicitly.
Model selection errors
If Cascade responds with a model-unavailable error, try switching the model in the Cascade settings. Windsurf sometimes has issues with a specific model provider while alternatives work fine. Switching from Claude to GPT-4o (or vice versa) within Cascade can unblock you immediately while you wait for the primary model to recover.
Is It Windsurf — or Is It Your Setup?
Run through this quickly:
Points toward a Windsurf/Codeium outage:
- status.codeium.com shows an active incident
- Multiple team members are affected at the same time
- Discord shows widespread reports
- The issue started suddenly rather than after a local change
Points toward a local/account issue:
- Status page is green, no community reports
- Other developers are working fine
- The issue appeared after a Windsurf update, network change, or account change
- You're getting authentication errors rather than general connection failures
- Only your machine is affected
Windsurf's Reliability as a Newer Entrant
Windsurf is newer to the AI IDE market than Cursor or Copilot. That's relevant to reliability expectations.
The honest assessment: Codeium has been building infrastructure fast to keep up with demand growth. The underlying technology (Codeium's AI backend) has been in production for a while via their VS Code extension, so it's not entirely new. But Windsurf as a standalone IDE has had some growing pains — occasional connection instability, particularly around new feature rollouts.
What I've observed: Windsurf's issues tend to be connectivity hiccups rather than extended outages. Short interruptions that resolve within 20-30 minutes are more typical than multi-hour incidents. That pattern may change as the product matures and scales.
Compared to Cursor (which also has had its infrastructure scaling moments), Windsurf is a reasonable bet for individual developers, with the understanding that it's a newer product. For teams where AI-coding reliability is critical to daily workflow, having a fallback ready is sensible.
What to Do While Windsurf Is Down
Cursor is the most direct fallback. Similar AI-native editor approach, comparable features, different model integration. If you don't already have it installed, cursor.com has a free download. Your VS Code keybindings and settings are mostly portable.
VS Code + GitHub Copilot is the fast setup option. If you already have a GitHub Copilot subscription, install VS Code (or just open your existing VS Code install), enable Copilot, and you're running. Works independently of Codeium's servers.
VS Code + Continue extension — Continue is an open-source AI coding extension that lets you route completions through multiple providers. More setup, but useful if you want model flexibility.
For most developers, Cursor is the right fallback choice given how similar the workflows are. The Windsurf vs. Cursor comparison breaks down the differences in detail if you're evaluating which to use as primary.
Getting Notified of Windsurf Outages
- Go to status.codeium.com
- Click "Subscribe to Updates"
- Enter your email
- Select the Windsurf components you care about
Alternatively, joining Windsurf's Discord and enabling notifications for the #status or #announcements channel gets you real-time updates without email.
For troubleshooting Windsurf problems that aren't outage-related — autocomplete quality, Cascade errors, indexing problems — the Windsurf not working guide covers those in detail. And if you're evaluating Cursor as a longer-term switch, the Cursor not working guide covers the parallel set of Cursor-specific issues.
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