Cursor

Cursor "Agent Execution Timed Out": the agent execution provider did not respond in time

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The error

Agent Execution Timed Out
The agent execution provider did not respond in time. This may indicate the extension host is not running or is unresponsive.

{"error":"ERROR_EXTENSION_HOST_TIMEOUT", ... "buttons":[{"label":"Reload Window" ...}]}
Agent Execution Timed Out [deadline_exceeded]
ConnectError: [deadline_exceeded] Agent Execution Timed Out

Shown in the Cursor Agent chat or Agents Window after about 60 to 70 seconds; the JSON and ConnectError lines appear when you copy the request details.

Agent Execution Timed Out (ERROR_EXTENSION_HOST_TIMEOUT) means Cursor's own extension host on your machine never started the component that runs agent commands, so the request gave up after roughly 70 seconds. Cursor staff say in most cases nothing reached their servers. First fix: click Reload Window or run Developer: Restart Extension Host. If it keeps happening, check that Index Repositories for Instant Grep is on, update Cursor, and add your antivirus exclusions.

Why it happens

Cursor runs agent tools through a local agent execution provider (the cursor-agent-exec extension) inside the extension host. If that process is slow to start, blocked, or crashes, the chat waits for it, hits its deadline, and shows this error even when your network is fine.

  1. A stalled or crashed extension host. Cursor staff call this a known issue that shows up most often on Windows, where a heavy extension, antivirus or endpoint security scanning, or PowerShell being blocked can delay startup past the deadline.
  2. Index Repositories for Instant Grep switched off. In September 2026 Cursor staff traced several timeouts, including ones that survived a clean reinstall, to this setting being off; they said a fix would ship in Cursor 3.21.18.
  3. A version-specific bug. Examples confirmed on the Cursor forum: a PowerShell quoting bug on non-English Windows (fixed in 3.20.21), and Remote-SSH regressions in 3.15.x where cursor-agent-exec never activated on the remote host.
  4. A network path that blocks Cursor's agent endpoints. Staff have pointed to corporate proxies, SSL inspection, Zscaler, and VPN software, which is why Disable HTTP/2 and the Network Diagnostics panel come up in almost every thread.

The fix

  1. 1 Click Reload Window in the error, or open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P) and run Developer: Restart Extension Host. If that fails, fully quit Cursor, check that no Cursor processes are left, and reopen it.
  2. 2 Open Cursor Settings, go to Indexing (Code Intelligence in the Agents Window), and turn on Index Repositories for Instant Grep. Accept the Reload Window prompt, then send a one-word test message in a new chat.
  3. 3 Update Cursor via Help, Check for Updates. Several timeout bugs from August and September 2026 were fixed in point releases.
  4. 4 Run cursor --disable-extensions from a terminal. If the agent answers, re-enable extensions one by one to find the slow one.
  5. 5 Open Cursor Settings, Network, and run Network Diagnostics. If anything fails, turn on Disable HTTP/2 (search HTTP/2 in settings) and test on another network such as a phone hotspot.
  6. 6 Add your antivirus or endpoint exclusions for the Cursor install and data folders, for example %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\cursor and %APPDATA%\Cursor on Windows.
cursor --disable-extensions

Remote-SSH: the agent times out but the terminal works

If file browsing and the integrated terminal work over Remote-SSH but every agent message times out, the remote extension host is up but the agent provider never registered there. Close every window connected to that host, kill the cursor-server process on the remote machine, and reconnect with a single window.

Check remoteexthost.log on the remote host. A healthy session contains a line activating anysphere.cursor-agent-exec. If it never appears, update Cursor.

The same timeout in any agent harness

This is not a model error. Any agent that splits work between a chat front end and a local tool runner can time out the same way when the runner never starts: Hermes reports it as an initialization timeout. The fix pattern is the same: restart the runner, read its own log, and rule out security software and proxies before blaming the provider.

Still failing?

  • Run Developer: Open Logs Folder right after a timeout and look in the Extension Host output for cursor-agent-exec or PowerShell errors.
  • Make sure you have only one Cursor install, since an older copy in a second location can keep launching the broken build.
  • Post the Request ID from the chat menu and your exact version from About Cursor on forum.cursor.com, where staff can check server-side logs.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Agent Execution Timed Out a Cursor outage?

Usually not. Cursor staff have said repeatedly that these requests time out locally while Cursor waits for the agent execution provider, before anything reaches their servers.

Why does reinstalling Cursor not fix it?

A reinstall keeps your settings, so a setting like Index Repositories for Instant Grep being off carries over. Antivirus scanning and a stale second install also survive a reinstall.

Does switching models help?

No. The timeout happens before the model is called, so every model, including Auto, fails the same way until the extension host starts the agent provider.

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