Getting started with Cursor AI

Why use Cursor?
My current opinon on AI coding, after a year of using it, is that it really is a great tool and a decent productivity-booster for an experienced engineer. I’m primarily a frontend React engineer, and I find that when it writes React code for me, I can skim it and immediately know whether it’s doing a good job, or if it’s writing shitty code. And so overall it’s a net-positive for productivity.

On the flipside though, I’m not a strong backender, so although it’s been very useful in writing basic backend code for me (whether it be Kotlin at work, or Rails at Hardcover), I can’t look at the code and be confident that what it’s written is actually “good” backend code or not. And I’m not sure that continuing to use AI like this is actually ever going to help me to develop the skills to be a good backend engineer, so that is a bit of an open question for me on how I can upskill myself when I am delegating things out to AI. It also does make me a little worried for the junior engineers of today.

Since Cursor is an IDE that looks identical to VS Code, for existing VS Code users it’s really easy to dip your toes in. You can install and use Cursor without actually using the AI, if you wanted to, and your coding experience would be exactly the same. And once you’re ready to try out the AI it’s right there for you, so the barrier to entry is really low.

I have also considered making the switch to Claude Code - so I may try it out next year and see it goes.