diff --git a/src/treesit.c b/src/treesit.c
index a0e41add475..5ed15bca788 100644
--- a/src/treesit.c
+++ b/src/treesit.c
@@ -1201,7 +1201,6 @@ make_treesit_node (Lisp_Object parser, TSNode node)
 static Lisp_Object
 make_treesit_query (Lisp_Object query, Lisp_Object language)
 {
-  TSQueryCursor *treesit_cursor = ts_query_cursor_new ();
   struct Lisp_TS_Query *lisp_query;
 
   lisp_query = ALLOCATE_PSEUDOVECTOR (struct Lisp_TS_Query,
@@ -1210,7 +1209,7 @@ make_treesit_query (Lisp_Object query, Lisp_Object language)
   lisp_query->language = language;
   lisp_query->source = query;
   lisp_query->query = NULL;
-  lisp_query->cursor = treesit_cursor;
+  lisp_query->cursor = NULL;
   return make_lisp_ptr (lisp_query, Lisp_Vectorlike);
 }
 
@@ -1269,6 +1268,16 @@ treesit_compose_query_signal_data (uint32_t error_offset,
 		build_string ("Debug the query with `treesit-query-validate'"));
 }
 
+/* Ensure QUERY has a non-NULL cursor, and return it.  */
+static TSQueryCursor *
+treesit_ensure_query_cursor (Lisp_Object query)
+{
+  if (!XTS_COMPILED_QUERY (query)->cursor)
+    XTS_COMPILED_QUERY (query)->cursor = ts_query_cursor_new ();
+
+  return XTS_COMPILED_QUERY (query)->cursor;
+}
+
 /* Ensure the QUERY is compiled.  Return the TSQuery.  It could be
    NULL if error occurs, in which case ERROR_OFFSET and ERROR_TYPE are
    bound.  If error occurs, return NULL, and assign SIGNAL_SYMBOL and
@@ -2865,7 +2874,7 @@ treesit_initialize_query (Lisp_Object query, const TSLanguage *lang,
     {
       *ts_query = treesit_ensure_query_compiled (query, signal_symbol,
 						 signal_data);
-      *cursor = XTS_COMPILED_QUERY (query)->cursor;
+      *cursor = treesit_ensure_query_cursor (query);
       /* We don't need to free ts_query and cursor because they
 	 are stored in a lisp object, which is tracked by gc.  */
       *need_free = false;
diff --git a/src/treesit.h b/src/treesit.h
index d3c6aa4c250..3da4cc155ea 100644
--- a/src/treesit.h
+++ b/src/treesit.h
@@ -119,12 +119,15 @@ struct Lisp_TS_Query
   Lisp_Object language;
   /* Source lisp (sexp or string) query.  */
   Lisp_Object source;
-  /* Pointer to the query object.  This can be NULL, meaning this
-     query is not initialized/compiled.  We compile the query when
-     it is used the first time (in treesit-query-capture).  */
+  /* Pointer to the query object.  This can be NULL, meaning this query
+     is not initialized/compiled.  We compile the query when it is used
+     the first time.  (See treesit_ensure_query_compiled.)  */
   TSQuery *query;
-  /* Pointer to a cursor.  If we are storing the query object, we
-     might as well store a cursor, too.  */
+  /* Pointer to a cursor.  If we are storing the query object, we might
+     as well store a cursor, too.  This can be NULL; caller should use
+     treesit_ensure_query_cursor to access the cursor.  We made cursor
+     to be NULL-able because it makes dumping and loading queries
+     easy.  */
   TSQueryCursor *cursor;
 };