⚡

AI IDEFree Hobby Tier

Cursor

The AI code editor — VS Code fork with deep AI integration and Composer

Cursor is one of the most popular AI-first code editors. It forks VS Code and adds powerful AI features: inline completions with multi-line awareness, chat with codebase context, and Composer — an agentic multi-file editing mode. Trusted by engineers at top tech companies.

Made by

Anysphere

Based on

VS Code

Free tier

Hobby (limited)

Pro plan

$20/month

Platform

Mac, Win, Linux

Website

cursor.com

⚡ Install & Setup

Step 1 — Download Cursor

Go to cursor.com → Download. Pick your OS. Cursor installs as a standalone app — it does not replace your existing VS Code.

Step 2 — Import VS Code Settings

On first launch: Cursor → Import from VS Code. This copies your extensions, themes, and keybindings in one click.

Step 3 — Sign In

Sign up at cursor.com. The Hobby tier gives you 2,000 completions/month + limited Composer and Chat. Pro ($20/mo) removes limits.

Step 4 — Choose Your AI Model

Cursor Settings → Models. You can use GPT-4o, Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet, or Cursor's own fast model. You can also add your own API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic).

🔑 Key Features

⌨️

Tab Completion

Multi-line AI completions that predict what you are about to write. Learns from your patterns within the session.

💬

Cmd+K (Inline Edit)

Select any code and press Cmd+K to ask AI to edit it in place. Diffs are shown before accepting.

🤖

Cmd+I (Composer)

Agentic multi-file editing mode. Describe a task and Composer plans and implements changes across your entire codebase.

🔍

Cmd+L (Chat)

Chat with your codebase. Reference files with @filename, symbols with @symbol, or the whole repo with @codebase.

🧩

@-References

Bring specific context into any prompt: @filename, @web, @docs, @git (for commit history), or @codebase for full-repo search.

📚

Docs Integration

Add documentation from any library with @docs. Cursor fetches and indexes them so AI answers use your exact library version.

🚀 Sample Usage

1. Cmd+K — Edit Selected Code

Select a function → press Cmd+K → type your instruction:

"Add input validation. Throw a ValidationError if email is not valid format or if name is empty."

Cursor shows a diff — press Accept or Reject.

2. Composer — Multi-File Task

Press Cmd+I and describe a cross-cutting change:

"Migrate all our fetch calls from the old apiClient to the new httpClient in src/lib/http.ts. Update all 8 service files."

3. Chat with Codebase Context

Press Cmd+L and ask questions that span multiple files:

"@codebase Where do we validate user permissions? I want to add a new admin-only route."

💡 Pro Tips

Add a .cursorrules file at your project root to set coding standards that Cursor follows in every session
Use @web to pull in live documentation when asking about a specific library version
In Composer, check "Auto-run" to let it execute terminal commands without prompting each time
Cmd+Shift+J opens the AI history to review past suggestions
You can bring your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key to use Cursor without the Pro plan limits

⌨️ Key Shortcuts

Inline edit (Cmd+K)Select code → Cmd+K

Open ChatCmd+L

Open ComposerCmd+I

Accept completionTab

Accept next wordCmd+→

Open terminalCtrl+`

→ Compare: Windsurf → Compare: VS Code + AI → Compare: GitHub Copilot