Reset Cursor ACP in

For terminal sessions use cursor-cli; for general control use <chat-cli>.

How resets work

• The <ACP-plugin> starts one cursor-agent acp subprocess per thread, on demand, owned by a <bridge-worker>.
• There is no global Cursor ACP server. Do not create one or keep it alive with a watchdog.
• Rules, skills, and .cursor/mcp.json reload when a new subprocess starts.
• <chat-cli> thread stop <id> releases the runtime and stops its subprocess, preserving history. The next message starts a fresh agent.

Quick reset

Resolve <reset-script> relative to this SKILL.md. Run:

<reset-script> <thread-id>      # reset one Cursor thread
<reset-script> --self           # reset the current thread (<CURRENT_THREAD_ID>)
<reset-script>                  # no thread: orphan cleanup + health check only
<reset-script> --dry-run        # show what would happen
<reset-script> <id> --kill-all  # also kill live agents of OTHER Cursor threads

Find Cursor thread ids with <chat-cli> status (current thread) or:

<thread-list-command>

The script stops the selected thread, removes orphaned cursor-agent acp processes (parent gone or not a ), reports CLI version/login/update status, and asks for the next message. Other threads stay running unless --kill-all.

If sandboxing blocks ps with "operation not permitted", rerun the script outside the sandbox.

Verify

Send one short message to verify a fresh agent responds. If it hangs again, check the causes below before another reset.

Known causes

• Old Cursor CLI. If the health check shows an update, run <update-command>, then reset.
• Expired login. Symptom "Failed to initialize session services". Fix: cursor-agent login, then reset.
• Pending permission. Cursor waits for session/request_permission. Check and resolve the thread's pending approval before resetting.
• Resume failure. For session/load → "Session not found", use a fresh session after <chat-cli> thread stop rather than retrying the load.
• Team-level MCP servers from the Cursor dashboard do not work in ACP mode. Only project or user .cursor/mcp.json.
• Rate limits. Enable retries with <chat-cli> plugin enable <retry-plugin>.

Do not

• No launchd KeepAlive, cron, or watchdog for cursor-agent acp.
• Never blindly run pkill -f cursor-agent; it kills all Cursor threads and the interactive TUI. Use the script, which targets orphans by default.
• Do not restart for one stuck thread; use <chat-cli> thread stop.
• Do not use <chat-cli> thread compact; Cursor does not support it.