Understanding Cursor's Data Retention: What Gets Kept and What Gets Purged

The Mystery of Disappearing Chats

"My conversations from last month are gone."

"I had important decisions documented there."

"Why didn't Cursor warn me?"

Sound familiar?

Cursor doesn't publicly document its data retention policy. This article shares what the developer community has learned.

What We Know

Cursor stores conversations in SQLite:

~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/User/
├── globalStorage/state.vscdb      # Global data
└── workspaceStorage/<id>/state.vscdb  # Per-workspace

Conversations are workspace-scoped:

Each project folder gets a unique workspace ID. Conversations are tied to that ID.

There's no official retention policy:

Cursor doesn't publish how long conversations are kept.

Observed Patterns

Based on community reports:

Recent conversations (< 30 days): Usually available

Older conversations (30-60 days): Inconsistent—may or may not exist

Very old conversations (> 60 days): Often purged

Heavy usage workspaces: May purge faster

Light usage workspaces: May retain longer

Disclaimer: These are community observations, not guarantees.

What Triggers Data Loss

1. Workspace ID changes

Cursor creates a new workspace ID when:

Project folder is renamed
Project folder is moved
Path changes for any reason

Old workspace keeps old conversations. New workspace starts empty.

2. Cursor updates

Updates sometimes:

Migrate data to new format
Accidentally lose data in migration
Clear caches that include chat data

3. User actions

"Clear Application Data" removes everything
Cleanup tools (CleanMyMac, etc.) may target Cursor
Manual deletion of User folder

4. Natural purge

Cursor appears to automatically remove old data to manage storage.

The Workspace ID Problem

This is the #1 cause of "lost" conversations:

Before: /Users/you/projects/my-app
Workspace ID: abc123...
Conversations: All your history

After rename: /Users/you/projects/my-app-v2
Workspace ID: def456... (NEW!)
Conversations: Empty

Old conversations: Still in abc123..., orphaned

Your data isn't deleted—it's orphaned. (See recovery article for how to access it.)

Privacy Mode Implications

Cursor's Privacy Mode affects storage:

With Privacy Mode OFF:

Conversations stored locally
Available for RL4 scanning
Subject to retention/purge

With Privacy Mode ON:

Reduced local storage
May affect what's available to scan
Check your Cursor settings

Protecting Important Conversations

Strategy 1: Regular snapshots

Don't depend on Cursor retention. Capture important context regularly.

Strategy 2: Before risky operations

Before renaming folders: Snapshot first
Before Cursor updates: Snapshot first
Before moving projects: Snapshot first

Strategy 3: File system backups

Weekly backup of entire Cursor User folder provides raw recovery option.

What You Can't Control

Some data loss is outside your control:

Cursor's internal purge schedule
How updates affect data
SQLite corruption

Accept this reality and build protective habits.

What You Can Control

How often you capture context
Whether you backup raw data
How you handle risky operations
Your recovery preparation

Checking Your Current Data

See what's available:

# List workspace IDs
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Cursor/User/workspaceStorage/

# Check a workspace's contents
sqlite3 path/to/state.vscdb "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM cursorDiskKV WHERE key LIKE 'composerData:%';"

Or use RL4:

Open RL4 panel
Click Scan
See "Earliest recovered item" date

This tells you what Cursor still has.

Working With Cursor's Behavior

Mindset shift:

Old: "Cursor keeps my history"
New: "Cursor temporarily stores history; I manage preservation"

Practical workflow:

Work normally in Cursor
End of day: Snapshot important sessions
Weekly: Backup raw data
Before risk: Extra snapshot

The Future

Cursor may eventually:

Publish retention policy
Offer export features
Provide cloud backup

Until then, developers need self-service solutions.

Don't Wait for Cursor

Your conversations are valuable. Cursor's retention is uncertain. Calculate the hidden costCalculate the hidden cost/cursor/blog/hidden-cost-context-loss-ai-development and learn how to recover lost conversationslearn how to recover lost conversations/cursor/blog/recover-lost-cursor-conversations before it's too late.

**Try RL4 Snapshot**Try RL4 Snapshot/cursor/form — capture what Cursor might purge. Understand Cursor chat history duration and take control of context preservation.

Take control of your context preservation. Don't wait for Cursor data purge.