Windsurf Not Working? Here's How to Fix It
In this article
If Windsurf is not working, the most common causes are exhausted flow or action credits, a service outage, an expired session token, or a stale extension cache. Check your credit balance at codeium.com/account/dashboard and the Windsurf status page before doing anything else. Most issues resolve in under two minutes.
- Windsurf runs on a credit system: Flow actions and fast completions each consume credits at different rates.
- Free plan users get limited fast completions; Pro ($15/month) provides a larger monthly allowance.
- Credit resets happen on your monthly billing cycle, not a fixed calendar date.
What are the most common reasons Windsurf stops working?
Windsurf failures almost always fall into one of four buckets: depleted credits, a backend outage, an authentication problem, or a broken VS Code / JetBrains extension state. Identifying which bucket you're in takes less than a minute and points you straight to the fix.
Credits exhausted (Flow and completions)
Windsurf separates "Flow Actions" (agentic steps) from fast autocomplete completions. When either pool runs out, that specific feature stops responding. You won't always see a clear error message; completions may silently fall back to a slower model or stop appearing entirely.
To check: open the Windsurf sidebar, click your avatar, and look at the credit counter. Alternatively, visit codeium.com/account/dashboard while logged in. If credits are at zero, you're waiting for your billing cycle to reset or you need to upgrade.
Service outage or degraded performance
Codeium (the company behind Windsurf) publishes real-time infrastructure health at windsurf.codeiumdata.com/status. Check that before spending time debugging locally. During outages, completions time out, the Cascade panel hangs, or the extension shows a spinning indicator indefinitely.
Authentication or session expired
Windsurf uses OAuth tokens that can expire or become invalid after a password change or account action. Symptoms: the extension prompts for login repeatedly, or all requests return a 401 error in the output panel.
Fix: In VS Code, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P), run Windsurf: Sign Out, then Windsurf: Sign In. On JetBrains, use the Codeium panel's account menu.
Stale extension state or corrupted cache
Extensions accumulate cached data that can desync from the server. This often manifests as completions that appear but don't insert, or a Cascade session that silently fails to execute steps.
Fix sequence:
- Reload the VS Code window:
Ctrl+Shift+P→Developer: Reload Window. - If that fails, disable and re-enable the Windsurf extension.
- As a last resort, uninstall the extension, delete the
~/.codeiumdirectory, and reinstall from the VS Code Marketplace.
Why is Windsurf slow or timing out?
Slowness is usually throttling near the rate limit, high server load, or a large context window that exceeds what the model can process quickly. On the free plan, requests are deprioritized under load. Upgrading to Pro moves you to a faster queue and provides more Fast Completion credits.
If you're on Pro and still seeing delays:
- Reduce the number of files open in the current workspace (large repos with many indexed files slow down context retrieval).
- Split long Cascade sessions into shorter ones. Each session accumulates context; very long conversations degrade response time.
- Check whether you've hit your daily or monthly Flow Action cap. Unlike completions, Flow Actions are billed per step and can run out mid-session without a visible warning.
What happens when you hit the Windsurf rate limit?
When you exhaust Flow Actions, Windsurf will either refuse to start a new Cascade task or stop mid-task. The error typically reads something like "You have used all your Flow Action credits for this period." Autocomplete may still work if your fast completion credits are separate and not depleted.
| Plan | Fast Completions | Flow Actions | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Limited (slows under load) | ~5 per month | Monthly billing date |
| Pro ($15/mo) | Unlimited fast completions | ~90 per month | Monthly billing date |
| Pro + Credits | Unlimited | Pay-as-you-go top-ups | No reset; credits persist |
Credit amounts above are based on Windsurf's published pricing page. Plans change, so verify current allocations before upgrading. For more detail, see our post on when Windsurf usage resets.
Is this a Windsurf-specific problem or common across AI coding tools?
Credit exhaustion and service outages are not unique to Windsurf. Cursor, Codex, and Claude Code all have analogous limits with similar failure modes. The pattern is the same: you hit a cap, completions silently degrade or stop, and you need to wait for a reset or buy more capacity.
If you're evaluating alternatives while Windsurf is down:
- Cursor: Also has fast request limits. See what to do when Cursor is not working.
- Kiro vs Windsurf: Two different agentic approaches. See Kiro vs Windsurf compared.
- Lovable vs Windsurf: Different target use cases. See Lovable vs Windsurf in 2026.
Claude Code users tracking usage can use Usagebar ($9 one-time) to monitor the 5-hour rolling window and get notifications at 50/75/90% before hitting limits cold. Windsurf doesn't have an equivalent third-party monitor yet, so the credit dashboard is your best option. See also: Windsurf or Cursor for coding.
Step-by-step fix for Windsurf not working
- Check the status page: windsurf.codeiumdata.com/status. If there's an incident, wait it out.
- Check your credits: codeium.com/account/dashboard. Zero credits means waiting for reset or topping up.
- Re-authenticate: Sign out and sign back in via the Command Palette.
- Reload the window:
Developer: Reload Windowin VS Code clears transient extension state. - Reinstall the extension: Uninstall, delete
~/.codeium, reinstall from the marketplace. - Check proxy/firewall: Windsurf requires outbound HTTPS to
*.codeium.com. Corporate proxies sometimes block this silently. - Downgrade the extension version: If the issue started after an auto-update, roll back via the VS Code Extensions panel (three-dot menu → "Install Another Version").
Key takeaways
- Start diagnosis with the status page and your credit balance, not local debugging.
- Free plan users are first to be throttled under load; Pro prioritizes your requests.
- Flow Actions and fast completions are separate credit pools. One can be empty while the other works fine.
- A reload window or sign-out/sign-in cycle fixes the majority of non-outage, non-credit issues.
- Credits reset on your monthly billing date, not a fixed calendar date. Check your account page for the exact reset timestamp.
Sources
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