Why My Cursor Was Stuck on ‘Generating…’ and How I Fixed It with One Simple Step
June 19, 2025How I Stopped Restarting Cursor IDE Dozens of Times a Day and Fixed the ‘Generating…’ Stuck Issue
June 19, 2025
I was coding with Claude 4 in Cursor IDE, expecting sharp AI assistance, but something wasn’t right—responses felt slow and unreliable. Then I discovered why: each time I asked “What model are you?”, it confidently replied “I am Claude 3.5 Sonnet.” That wasn’t just confusing—it made me wonder if I was paying for the wrong service. After some investigation, I found both the cause and a solid solution.
The Core Problem: AI Models Aren’t Self-Aware
Here’s the reality: models like Claude don’t actually know their own identity. They generate responses based on patterns in their training data.
Since “Claude 4” was new during training, the model often defaults to claiming it’s “Claude 3.5” when asked directly. This isn’t a software bug—it’s just how these systems work.
In tools like Cursor IDE, this confusion gets worse when cached settings or system prompts don’t update properly. The result? You get mismatched performance and billing concerns.
My Step-by-Step Solution to Ensure I’m Using Claude 4
Through testing, I found a reliable approach to fix this. Here’s what worked for me:
- Change the LLM setting explicitly: In Cursor’s model menu, I manually selected “Claude 4″—never assuming it remembered my last choice.
- Start a brand-new chat: Existing conversations carry old settings, so I always opened a fresh chat window after switching models.
- Restart Cursor IDE: A full restart (closing completely before reopening) cleared hidden cached data.
- Verify with usage logs: I checked Anthropic’s console where activity logs clearly showed “Claude 4” usage—the only truth-teller here.
Key Insights for Smooth AI Development
My big lesson? Never trust an AI’s self-identification. The settings menu and usage logs are your real guides.
Always launch new chats after model changes to avoid configuration ghosts. If responses feel sluggish, check your logs immediately—don’t wait.
Following these steps got me back to smooth coding with the actual Claude 4. No more identity confusion!
