Antigravity AI language server fails to start on macOS 11.7 Intel (language_server_macos_x64 exits with code 2/4)

## Environment

- **OS:** macOS 11.7.10 (Big Sur)

- **Machine:** Intel Mac

- **CPU:** Intel(R) Core™ i7-4558U CPU @ 2.80GHz

- `machdep.cpu.features` includes: `AES`, `AVX1.0`, `SSE4.1`, `SSE4.2`, etc.

- **Antigravity install:**

- Platform: macOS `.app` in `/Applications/Antigravity.app`

- `CFBundleExecutable`: `Electron`

- `LSMinimumSystemVersion` in `Info.plist`: `11.0`

- **User state:** Fresh install, first-time onboarding, no settings imported from VS Code

> Please fill in your exact Antigravity version here from `Antigravity → About`:

> - **Antigravity version:** ``

-–

## Summary

On a supported macOS 11 Intel machine, the built-in `google.antigravity` extension repeatedly fails to activate because its bundled language server (`language_server_macos_x64`) exits immediately with exit codes 2 and 4.

This causes Antigravity to show the banner:

> `Antigravity server crashed unexpectedly. Please restart to fully restore AI features.`

The problem persists even after:

- Fully deleting Antigravity config directories,

- Starting fresh (no VS Code settings import),

- Verifying `~/.gemini/antigravity` is writable and owned by the user.

-–

## Steps to reproduce

1. Install Antigravity on macOS 11.7.10 (Big Sur) on an Intel Mac (i7-4558U with AES support).

2. Launch Antigravity for the first time.

3. In onboarding:

- Choose **Start fresh** / do **not** import settings from VS Code.

- Sign in with Google account (sign-in succeeds).

4. Let Antigravity install its default recommended extensions.

5. After onboarding finishes, observe immediately in the bottom area:

> `Antigravity server crashed unexpectedly. Please restart to fully restore AI features.`

6. Try:

- Restarting the Antigravity server from the UI.

- Quitting Antigravity fully and relaunching.

- Disabling and re-enabling the `Antigravity` (Built-in) extension.

In all cases, the error returns as soon as the AI features attempt to start.

-–

## What I expected

- `google.antigravity` (Built-in) extension should activate successfully.

- The Antigravity AI language server should start and remain running.

- AI features (agent/chat, code assistance) should work after a clean install on a supported macOS version.

## What actually happens

- The UI shows:

> `Antigravity server crashed unexpectedly. Please restart to fully restore AI features.`

- `google.antigravity` remains **enabled** in the Extensions view but fails to activate.

- AI features do not work at all.

-–

## Console / log excerpts

From **Help → Toggle Developer Tools → Console** during startup:

```text

(Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:14:51 [ERROR]: Language server exited with code 2

(Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:14:51 [ERROR]: Failed to start language server: Error: Language server exited before sending start data

(Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:14:51 [ERROR]: LS startLanguageServer error: Language server exited before sending start data

Activating extension ‘google.antigravity’ failed: Language server has not been started!.

[Extension Host] Failed to update user status Error: LanguageServerClient must be initialized first!

at B.getInstance (/Applications/Antigravity.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/antigravity/dist/extension.js:2:214787)

at a.updateUserStatus (/Applications/Antigravity.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/antigravity/dist/extension.js:2:1241852)

at a.restartUpdateLoop (/Applications/Antigravity.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/antigravity/dist/extension.js:2:1242343)

at t.activate (/Applications/Antigravity.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/antigravity/dist/extension.js:2:163987)

...

[Extension Host] (Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:15:49 [ERROR]: Language server exited with code 4

[Extension Host] (Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:15:49 [ERROR]: Failed to start language server: Error: Language server exited before sending start data

[Extension Host] (Antigravity) 2025-12-13 10:15:49 [ERROR]: LS startLanguageServer error: Language server exited before sending start data

Activating extension ‘google.antigravity’ failed: Language server has not been started!.

Antigravity server crashed unexpectedly. Please restart to fully restore AI features.

```

Other recurring log messages:

```text

[google.antigravity]: Menu item references a command `antigravity.importAntigravitySettings` which is not defined in the ‘commands’ section.

[google.antigravity]: Menu item references a command `antigravity.importAntigravityExtensions` which is not defined in the ‘commands’ section.

command ‘antigravity.refreshMcpServers’ not found

command ‘antigravity.handleAuthRefresh’ not found

Failed to get VSCode workspaces: Error: command ‘antigravity.importVSCodeRecentWorkspaces’ not found

```

The language server binary present on disk:

```text

/Applications/Antigravity.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/antigravity/bin/language_server_macos_x64

```

When run manually without arguments, it appears to wait (no immediate crash), which suggests the failure is specific to how Antigravity starts it.

-–

## Things already tried (based on public troubleshooting guides)

1. **Restart / hardware acceleration**

- Fully quit Antigravity and relaunch.

- Allowed recommended default extensions to install.

- Restarted the Antigravity server from the UI.

- Disabled “import from VS Code” (started fresh).

- Still get the crash banner.

2. **Config reset**

- Backed up and removed:

- `~/.antigravity`

- `~/Library/Application Support/Antigravity`

- Relaunched Antigravity, completed onboarding again, **no settings import**.

- Same behavior: immediate server crash banner, same console errors.

3. **Extension conflicts**

- Confirmed there is **no GitHub Copilot** installed in Antigravity.

- Only see built-in extensions and recommended defaults.

- `google.antigravity` is present and enabled.

4. **`~/.gemini/antigravity` permissions**

- Verified directories and files:

 \`\`\`text

 drwxr-xr-x  ... \~/.gemini

 drwxr-xr-x  ... \~/.gemini/antigravity

 \`\`\`

- All owned by my user (no `root` ownership, no obvious permission issues).

- No “permission denied” errors in logs.

5. **CPU feature checks**

- CPU supports AES and AVX; this is **not** the known “no AES-NI” hardware issue seen on older Linux installs.

-–

## Why I think this is a product bug

- The system clearly meets Antigravity’s advertised minimum: macOS ≥ 11.0, AES-capable Intel CPU.

- All known configuration causes for this error have been ruled out:

- No imported VS Code settings or Copilot.

- Fresh Antigravity and `~/.antigravity` state.

- Writable `~/.gemini/antigravity`.

- The error is specifically that `language_server_macos_x64`:

- Starts, then exits with codes 2 and 4 during normal Antigravity startup.

- Never completes its startup handshake (“start data”).

- This looks like a bug or untested combination in the **macOS x64 language server** for Big Sur Intel, not a user misconfiguration.

-–

## Request

- Please:

- Confirm whether **macOS 11.x (Big Sur) on Intel** is a fully supported target for the Antigravity language server.

- Investigate why `language_server_macos_x64` is exiting early with codes 2/4 on this platform.

- If possible, provide:

- A patched build of the language server for macOS Intel.

- Or a configuration/workaround to make Antigravity’s AI language server work on this OS/CPU.

Happy to provide additional logs or try a diagnostic build if that helps.

3 Likes

Thanks for sharing — hopefully the issue gets resolved soon so the Antigravity AI language server can run smoothly on macOS 11.7.

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to AI Forum!
The current supporting version in this official documentation is macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer; are you still facing that “Language server exited with code 2/4” issue?

1 Like