Introduction to Cursor
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Cursor is an AI-first code editor. Traditional IDEs focus on project structure, files, and text editing, with AI integration added as an extension. Cursor puts AI at the center of the experience.
Although it’s a fork of Visual Studio Code, its user experience prioritizes AI integration.
When you open a project in Visual Studio Code or Xcode, the project structure and files take center stage. In Cursor, AI conversations, tasks, and their results are more prominent. Cursor is still an IDE with code-editing capabilities, but its focus is AI.
Setting Up Cursor
Cursor has its own subscription for AI agents. You can’t use an existing Claude, Codex, or Gemini subscription. However, a Cursor subscription gives you access to models from multiple providers, so you can choose models suited to tasks of different types and complexity.
Project Files
Cursor doesn’t open the project navigator by default. To open it, click Show apps in the upper-right corner to reveal the right sidebar, then click + in the tab bar.
Starting Your First Conversation in Cursor
Now that you’ve added the workspace, try the same prompt you used in Xcode: give me a brief on this project. You can choose a model for the prompt, keep the default model, or select Auto.
