Why Your Cursor AI Keeps Freezing (And How to Fix It)
Z
Zack Saadioui
8/11/2025
So, Your Cursor AI Froze Mid-Sentence… Now What?
You’re in the zone. The code is flowing, the logic is sound, & you’re on a roll. You’re typing out a prompt to Cursor, your AI coding companion, asking it to refactor a particularly nasty bit of code, & then… nothing. The cursor blinks a few more times, then stops. The whole interface is frozen. You can’t type, you can’t click, you can’t even switch tabs. It’s like your digital co-pilot just decided to take a nap.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It’s a frustrating experience that a lot of us who have embraced AI-assisted coding have run into. Honestly, it can be a real workflow killer. But don't worry, there's usually a reason for these freezes, & more importantly, there are ways to fix it. I’ve spent a good amount of time digging into this, & I’m here to share what I’ve learned.
Why is This Happening? The Usual Suspects
It turns out, there are a handful of common culprits behind these frustrating freezes. It's rarely just a random glitch. Most of the time, it boils down to one of these things:
1. The Never-Ending Chat History
This is a big one. If you’ve been in a long, back-&-forth conversation with the AI, especially in a single chat session, you’re essentially making it carry a heavy conversational backpack. Every time you ask it something new, it has to process the entire history of that chat to understand the context. When that history gets too long, the model takes longer to process everything, & sometimes it just… times out. It’s like trying to have a coherent conversation with someone while they’re also trying to remember every single thing you’ve ever said to them. At some point, something’s gotta give.
2. The Colossal Codebase
Are you working on a massive project with thousands of files? Cursor’s AI is designed to understand your entire codebase, which is an amazing feature. But, and this is a big but, loading all of that context can be a heavy lift for the system. It’s not that it can’t handle it, but it can definitely lead to performance issues, especially on machines that aren’t top-of-the-line. I’ve seen this myself – when I switch from a small personal project to a huge client codebase, the difference in responsiveness can be night & day.
3. The Rogue Extension
Cursor is built on the foundation of VS Code, which means you have access to a massive library of extensions. This is great for customizing your workflow, but it also introduces a potential for conflict. Some extensions, especially those that make their own API calls or perform complex background tasks, can hog resources or interfere with Cursor's own processes. I once had an extension that was constantly making network requests in the background, & it was causing all sorts of weird lag & freezing issues with Cursor.
4. The Dreaded Memory Leak
This is a more technical one, but it’s a real issue. Sometimes, a bug in Cursor or one of its extensions can cause a "memory leak." This is where the application keeps using more & more of your computer’s memory without releasing it. Eventually, it can eat up so much memory that your whole system starts to slow down, & Cursor becomes unresponsive. I’ve seen forum posts where users with powerful machines, even those with 32GB or 64GB of RAM, are seeing Cursor consume a massive amount of memory, leading to crashes.
5. Network Gremlins
Cursor is a cloud-powered tool, so a stable internet connection is pretty important. If your connection is spotty or if you’re on a network with a strict firewall, it can interfere with Cursor’s ability to communicate with its servers. This can manifest as freezes, especially when you’re trying to use AI features that require a quick back-&-forth with the cloud. I even saw a user on a forum mention a specific error,
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net::ERR_NETWORK_IO_SUSPENDED
, which points directly to a network issue.
The Fix-It-Fast Guide: What to Do When Cursor Freezes
Okay, so we know what might be causing the problem. Now, let’s get to the good stuff: how to fix it. Here’s a rundown of the things you can try, from the quick & easy to the more involved.
The Simple Stuff (Try These First!)
Start a New Chat: This is the easiest & often the most effective fix, especially if you suspect a long chat history is the culprit. Just open a new chat window. This gives the AI a clean slate, without the baggage of your previous conversation.
Restart Cursor: The classic "turn it off & on again." It’s a cliché for a reason. A simple restart can often clear up temporary glitches & memory issues.
Check Your Internet Connection: It sounds obvious, but it’s worth a quick check. Run a speed test, make sure you’re not having any packet loss. If you’re on a VPN, try disconnecting temporarily to see if that’s the issue.
The Deeper Dive: More Advanced Troubleshooting
If the simple fixes don’t do the trick, it’s time to roll up your sleeves a bit.
Disable Your Extensions: This is a bit of a process of elimination, but it’s a crucial step. The easiest way to do this is to launch Cursor from your terminal with the
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--disable-extensions
flag. If Cursor runs smoothly without extensions, then you know one of them is the problem. From there, you can re-enable your extensions one by one until you find the one that’s causing the freeze.
Use the
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.cursorignore
File: This is a POWERFUL tool for those of you working on large projects. Just like a
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.gitignore
file, you can create a
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.cursorignore
file in the root of your project & list any files or folders that you don’t want Cursor to have context for. This is great for things like
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node_modules
, build artifacts, or large data files that the AI doesn't need to know about. By reducing the amount of context the AI has to process, you can significantly improve performance.
Dive into the Developer Tools: If you’re feeling adventurous, you can use Cursor’s built-in developer tools to get a better idea of what’s going on under the hood. You can open the Developer Tools from the Help menu. The "Console" tab might show you some error messages that can point you in the right direction. There's also a "Process Explorer" that will show you which processes are using the most resources, which can help you pinpoint a rogue extension or a memory leak.
Check the Official Docs & Community Forums: The Cursor team is pretty active, & they have a good set of official documentation. They also have a community forum where you can often find other users who have experienced the same issue & have found a solution. I’ve found some really helpful tips in these forums that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.
Thinking Bigger: How This Relates to the World of AI & Business
These kinds of performance issues aren't unique to Cursor. They're a growing pain for a lot of AI-powered tools. As these tools become more powerful & more integrated into our workflows, the demands on our hardware & on the cloud infrastructure that powers them are only going to increase.
It also highlights the importance of good customer support & communication. When users run into issues like this, they want to know that the company is aware of the problem & is working on a fix. It's one of the reasons why having a direct line to support is so crucial for businesses that rely on these kinds of tools.
This is actually something we think a lot about at Arsturn. We help businesses build their own custom AI chatbots, trained on their own data, that can provide instant customer support, answer questions, & engage with website visitors 24/7. Think about it – if a customer is having an issue with your product, the last thing they want is to be stuck waiting for an email response. A well-trained AI chatbot can provide immediate assistance, troubleshoot common problems, & even escalate the issue to a human agent if necessary. It’s all about creating a better, more responsive customer experience.
And for businesses looking to streamline their internal processes, a tool like Arsturn can be a game-changer. Imagine having an internal AI assistant that can answer questions about your company’s policies, help new employees get up to speed, or even assist your developers by providing instant access to your internal documentation. It’s all about using AI to make your team more efficient & productive.
The Bottom Line
So, the next time your Cursor AI freezes up, don’t panic. Take a deep breath, & work your way through the troubleshooting steps I’ve outlined here. Chances are, you’ll be able to get back to coding in no time.
And if you’re a business owner or a developer thinking about how you can leverage the power of AI to improve your own products or services, I hope this has given you some food for thought. The world of AI is moving fast, & the possibilities are pretty much endless.
I hope this was helpful! Let me know what you think, & if you have any other tips or tricks for dealing with a frozen Cursor, I’d love to hear them.