Cursor updates stall on macOS 27; reinstall from the download page

If Cursor on macOS 27 keeps saying it "couldn't finish updating," install the new version from the download page instead. Cursor staff member kevinn said at 3:48 PM ET on Oct 13 that this is "an issue we're tracking with updates on macOS 27: the update downloads, but the install step doesn't finish, and Cursor reopens on the previous version." He said a manual install "is the right workaround for now, and your settings and chats are kept when you do."

That workaround is more reliable as of this morning. In a separate thread, staff member deanrie said at 4:32 AM ET on Oct 14 that cursor.com/download "is serving the current stable version again on all platforms," after some users had been handed the older 3.22.12 build from it. The fault "was on the website side," per the same post. It is not the same bug as the macOS 27 install stall, which staff are still tracking.

• Status: Open. Staff are tracking it, with no fix date.
• Affects: Cursor's built-in updater on macOS 27.
• Symptoms: The update downloads, the install stalls, and Cursor reopens on the old version.
• Workaround: Per staff, turn Cursor on under App Background Activity (or Allow in the Background), quit Cursor, clear the stuck ShipIt cache, then let the next update install. Steps below. Installing from cursor.com/download still works too; staff say that page serves the current stable build again as of Oct 14.

What changed#

komocode reported that on macOS 27.0.1 the updater stalls "every month," and that going from 3.21.18 to 3.24.12 failed twice with "Cursor couldn't finish updating." kevinn confirmed it as a known issue on macOS 27 the same afternoon. No staff update on the macOS 27 thread overnight.

Update, Oct 14: deanrie said the download page had been serving 3.22.12 to some users (the report in that thread came from Linux, with a Windows installer also tried) and now serves the current stable version on all platforms. This fixes the source of the manual install, not the macOS 27 updater.

Update, Oct 16: Cursor staff member Colin said at 6:36 AM ET that it's "a known issue on macOS 27 that we’re tracking," and described what the team has seen: "when Cursor isn’t allowed to run in the background, macOS stops the installer a few seconds after Cursor quits." He said that matched the reporter's log, which ended in "Too many attempts." His steps: open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and, under App Background Activity (called Allow in the Background on some versions), turn Cursor on. Quit Cursor completely with Cmd+Q. In Terminal, run rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.todesktop.230313mzl4w4u92.ShipIt to clear the stuck install state. Open Cursor, wait for the next update to download, click Restart to Update, then check Cursor > About Cursor to confirm the new version. He added: "We’re also working on having Cursor detect this setting and point you to it before it restarts to update." Status stays Open.

Why it matters#

A stuck updater leaves you on an old build without any obvious warning beyond the failed install. That means missing fixes. For example, staff said on Oct 13 that the outdated "Plus" plan label in Cursor 3.23 is corrected by installing 3.24 or newer.

How to use it#

1. In Cursor, open Cursor > About Cursor and note the version.
2. If an update failed, download the current build from cursor.com/download and install it over the old one. After installing, check About Cursor again. If it still shows 3.22.12, download again, since staff say the page now serves the current stable version.
3. Before the next update arrives, check the setting kevinn asked about: open System Settings, go to General > Login Items & Extensions, and in Allow in the Background make sure every Cursor entry is turned on.
4. Fully quit Cursor with Cursor > Quit Cursor and reopen it.
5. When the next update is offered, let it restart, then check About Cursor again to see whether it took.

Good to know#

• kevinn asked people to report whether Cursor was switched off under Allow in the Background before they changed it. That suggests the team suspects that setting, but staff haven't said it is the cause.
• If an update fails again, staff asked for two files from ~/Library/Caches/com.todesktop.230313mzl4w4u92.ShipIt: ShipIt_stderr.log and ShipItState.plist. Don't zip that whole folder, kevinn said, "since it can contain a full copy of the update." He also asked for the ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/update-supervisor folder, zipped, sent by private message.
• On Linux with apt, a stale version can be a separate repo problem. deanrie said that if apt-get update shows NO_PUBKEY, the signing key is probably missing, and if apt-cache policy cursor has no downloads.cursor.com/aptrepo line, install the fresh .deb and answer Yes when it offers to add the repo. The exact commands are in the thread.
• We have not reproduced this; we don't have a macOS 27 Mac on this box.

What to watch#

A Cursor release note that mentions the macOS 27 updater, whether staff confirm the background setting as the cause, and whether komocode's next update installs on its own.