Fix Grok Bot when ListMachines is empty but Settings still lists the Mac

Chat stays up. Settings → Computer still shows each Mac as Always allow. Agents then call ListMachines and get {"machines": []}. Local Shell fails with “No registered machines were available when this turn started” or a stale machineId error. Cursor staff (Colin, Aug 30, 2026, thread 169848) traced this to the helper on the Mac shutting itself down after the Bot’s cloud environment went idle. The Mac was fine; the helper wrongly decided the desktop app was gone.

What staff said would heal it

On 0.29.0, Colin wrote that a fix was already merged for the next Grok Bot release, that the drop usually heals within a minute, and that retrying the task shortly after the failure typically works. If a machine stays missing, quit and reopen the Grok Bot desktop app.

The machine set is captured at the start of a turn. After the list flickers back, send a new message. A retry inside the failed turn still sees the empty snapshot.

What still flaps on latest

A Sep 3, 2026 follow-up (thread 170488) reported the same empty ListMachines after updating past 0.29.0. Restarting Grok Bot, signing out and back in, and waiting did not restore the link. Focusing Grok Bot on the Mac, or waking that session over Screen Sharing, brought both machines back as connected: true for tens of seconds to a few minutes, then the list went empty again.

1. Open or focus the Grok Bot window on the Mac you want agents to use. If you are remoting in, wake the GUI session.
2. Confirm Settings → Computer still lists that machine with Execution on this computer set.
3. Send a new chat message and have the agent call ListMachines on that turn.
4. If the row is back, run the local command immediately. The registration can drop again within a minute.

Leftover helper processes

A helper that never dies after an update is a different failure, with a kill-and-relaunch path: Fix Grok Bot when chat works but local Shell is dead.

Pitfalls

• Settings can keep the Always-allow row while agents see zero machines. Trust ListMachines for the live link.
• The work Mac you are chatting from can vanish from the live list even while you are using the app.
• Cloud “Can’t reach your computer” is the hosted VM. See Fix Grok Bot “Can’t reach your computer”.