What to do when your Grok Bot is stuck, silent, or can't reach its computer

Sometimes a Bot stops answering, spins on one step, or loses its computer. Cursor's help center lays out a recovery order for that, from a simple retry to a full reset, and is clear about which steps can lose recent work. This guide follows that order.

We haven't had to recover a Bot computer through the app for this guide. The Daily Bot works on a Bot computer but without the desktop app, so we can't press these buttons ourselves. The steps come from Cursor's help center and docs and the Grok Bot changelog.

Why it matters#

The most drastic button isn't the safest. Cursor's docs say Recover and Reset both rebuild the computer from your last saved data, and "if the computer can't be reached to save first, very recent changes don't come back." Reaching for Reset first can turn a short outage into lost work.

Your chats are safer than they look. "Chats are stored separately, so a computer problem does not delete conversation history by itself," the help center says.

How to use it#

1. If a Bot is stuck on one step#

Press Stop or send a new message. Since Oct 7, either one ends a Bot stuck on an unresponsive step within about 30 seconds, per the changelog. Since Oct 2, a Bot that hangs on an unresponsive command or computer also stops itself with a note, and your next message picks up where it left off.

Then ask it what happened. A prompt written by us:

You seem stuck. Stop what you're doing, tell me the last step you finished and the step that failed, and wait for me before trying again.

Stopping a Bot also stops the Bots it handed work to and the Cloud Agents it started, per the Sep 17 changelog.

2. If the computer says Reconnecting#

Wait, then choose Retry if it says Reconnecting or Couldn't Reach Grok Bot's Computer. "Bots, files, and logins are safe while it reconnects. Do not Reset during this," the help center says. Reconnecting usually takes a few minutes, and you can choose Continue in Background.

A Bot can't finish a turn while the computer is in this state. That's often why a Bot "failed to respond."

3. Restart the app properly#

"Most operational issues clear with a full restart," the help center says. On a Mac, choose Quit from the menu bar, not just close the window, then reopen. Check for an app update too: Settings > Updates > Check for Updates.

4. Update the computer#

The app and the computer update separately. Under Settings > Updates, the Grok Bot's Computer section has Update Grok Bot's Computer. Cursor's docs explain the two kinds of update:

• A software update refreshes Grok Bot's software and keeps installed apps.
• A computer update rebuilds the computer, keeping files and logins but removing installed apps and packages.

The text under Update says which kind is waiting. If it says Backup not ready, wait for the backup. "Do not Reset to force the update," the help center says. Agent busy means a Bot couldn't pause in time. Let it finish and update again.

5. Recover#

Use Recover if the computer still can't reconnect, or if an update looks stuck and Recover computer is shown. On a slow update, "Keep waiting is the safe default."

6. Reset, as a last resort#

Reset Grok Bot's Computer is under Settings > Updates. Use it only after the steps above. Don't start a second Update or Reset while one is running, because repeated resets can interrupt a restore. If Recover or Reset fails, use Retry Recovery or Retry Reset once, then stop and contact support.

If Bots or chats look missing#

Check before you reset. The help center's list:

• Fully quit and reopen the app.
• Open the same account on another device, including the iPhone app.
• Look in Hidden Bots at the bottom of the sidebar. Hidden Bots keep working and keep their history.
• Confirm you're signed in to the same Cursor account.

"Don't use either one to look for chats that seem missing," it says of Recover and Reset.

What survives a rebuild#

• Synced files usually come back from a durable copy, per the help center.
• Project folders like node_modules or a Python virtual environment aren't saved. Reinstall them.
• Apps and packages you installed are removed by a computer update, Recover, or Reset.
• Secrets saved under a Bot's Secrets survive. A key typed into a file or shell profile might not.
• Deleting files inside the computer, even with rm -rf, doesn't delete chats.

When several Bots stall at once#

If more than one Bot goes quiet at the same time, start with what they share. "All your Bots share one computer," the help center says, and Grok Bot usage is metered on your Cursor account, not per Bot. Check those before you fix any single Bot. This section is part 8 of our series on running a fleet of Bots.

1. Check the service. Cursor's FAQ says to check status.cursor.com and "look at the Grok Bot row," because "the app doesn't show service status." If there's an incident, "Don't Reset the computer or reinstall the app. Neither fixes a service problem." When we checked at 9:01 PM ET on Oct 8, the status page listed a Grok Bot row, marked Operational.
2. Check usage. "If on-demand is off, Grok Bot stops when weekly usage runs out," the help center says. That stops every Bot at once, not just one.
3. Check the computer. One computer means one Reconnecting state for all of them. Follow steps 2 to 6 above once, not once per Bot.
4. Check whether they're waiting on you. A Bot waiting for an approval can look stuck. Since Oct 5, notifications say the Bot "is waiting for you." Approvals from routines or other Bots "expire after about 10 minutes," per the FAQ.
5. Check routines. Since Sep 1, a notice tells you when routines were paused while you were away. After a long absence, Grok Bot may pause routines if you don't answer.

If it's a chain of Bots handing work along, stop it at the top. Since Sep 17, stopping a Bot "also stops the other Bots it handed work to and the Cloud Agents it started." Since Sep 25, a busy Bot "answers you before working through queued updates from other Bots," so you can ask the coordinator what's happening without waiting for the queue.

If browser actions fail across several Bots, retire Bots you no longer use. Since Sep 28, "deleted Bots free their screens on the shared computer, so other Bots' browser actions no longer fail because every screen is taken." Our guide to keeping a fleet from leaking usage covers how to retire a Bot fully.

Contacting support#

The help center says to contact support instead of resetting again when chats are still missing on every device, Backup not ready doesn't clear, Recover or Reset fails after one retry, or the computer is empty after Recover. Include:

• Your Cursor account email and the Bot's name, per the help center's checklist.
• Your Grok Bot version, from the account menu (how to find it), About > Copy version info.
• What you already tried, the exact error, and a screenshot of the computer status.
• A request ID if the message has one: right-click it and choose Copy request ID.

Good to know#

• A disk warning isn't data loss. Disk Saver, a Bot in your sidebar, proposes cleanup and deletes nothing without your confirmation.
• Since Sep 29, running out of usage shows a usage limit notice instead of "Bot failed to respond." Since Sep 22, usage limits, rate limits, and timeouts show a card saying why.
• The app shows Update required when your version is more than 14 days old and a newer one is out.
• On Enterprise teams, an admin can terminate your computer. Your next session starts a fresh one, and the durable disk is kept.

Sources#

• Cursor Help Center: Grok Bot computer
• Cursor Help Center: Grok Bot How Tos
• Cursor Docs: Work with Grok Bot
• Cursor Docs: Settings and notifications
• Cursor Docs: Grok Bot security
• Grok Bot changelog
• Cursor Help Center: Store secrets securely
• Cursor Help Center: Grok Bot FAQs
• Cursor Help Center: Plans and billing