Cursor AI Editor: How I Switched from VS Code and Never Looked Back

I was a die-hard VS Code user for eight years. Extensions, keybindings, settings sync — I had it all configured exactly how I liked it. When a colleague mentioned Cursor in early 2025, I brushed it off. “It’s just VS Code with ChatGPT bolted on,” I told him. I was wrong, and I’ll admit that now.

Three months later, I haven’t opened regular VS Code once. Here’s what actually happened, what works, and what still frustrates me about the Cursor AI editor.

What Is Cursor AI (And Why It’s Not Just “VS Code + ChatGPT”)

Cursor is built on top of VS Code — same extensions, same keybindings, same settings. But instead of bolted-on AI like Copilot, Cursor integrates AI into the actual editing workflow. You can highlight code and ask it to refactor, write entire functions from a comment, or run “Agent Mode” where it goes off and edits multiple files on its own.

The key difference: Copilot suggests one line at a time. Cursor can rewrite your entire file while you watch.

If you’re completely new to AI coding tools, check out my ChatGPT beginners guide first — this article assumes you’ve at least used an AI chat tool before.

Installing Cursor (5 Minutes, Zero Drama)

This part was surprisingly painless, which I didn’t expect. AI tools usually have some weird setup process.

1. Go to cursor.com and download the installer
2. Run it — it takes about 2 minutes
3. On first launch, it asks if you want to import VS Code settings. Click yes. All your extensions, themes, and keybindings transfer automatically
4. Sign in with your GitHub or Google account

That’s it. I was genuinely surprised — my VS Code setup had about 30 extensions and a custom keybinding file that took me years to perfect. Cursor imported everything without a single conflict.

The one thing I’d change: Cursor doesn’t import your terminal profile settings. If you use a custom shell (I use zsh with a bunch of aliases), you’ll need to reconfigure that manually. It took me 10 minutes, not a big deal, but worth knowing.

The Three Modes That Changed My Workflow

Tab Completion (The “Copilot-Like” Mode)

This is the basic mode — as you type, Cursor predicts what comes next and you press Tab to accept. It’s similar to GitHub Copilot, but I found Cursor’s completions more context-aware. When I’m writing a Java service class, it remembers the field names from the class above and uses them correctly, instead of guessing generic names.

Is it perfect? No. About 20% of the time it suggests something that technically works but is ugly — bad variable names, unnecessary nested conditions, that kind of thing. I still have to review everything. But that 80% where it gets it right saves me maybe 30-40 keystrokes per function, which adds up.

Chat Mode (Ask Questions About Your Code)

This is where Cursor shines compared to regular ChatGPT. Instead of copy-pasting code into a browser tab, you press Cmd+K (or Ctrl+K on Windows), type your question, and Cursor answers with full context of your entire project.

Example: I had a Spring Boot app with a weird null pointer exception in a service method. Instead of copying the method, the controller, and the DTO into ChatGPT, I just asked Cursor: “Why is user.getAddress() returning null in UserService.java?” It found that my UserDTO mapping was skipping the address field. Fixed in 30 seconds.

If you want to get better at asking AI the right questions, my prompt engineering techniques article has some specific tips for code-related prompts.

Agent Mode (The Scary One That Actually Works)

This is the feature that made me switch permanently. Agent Mode lets you describe a task, and Cursor goes off and edits multiple files to complete it.

I tested it with: “Add error handling to all public methods in UserService.java and update the corresponding test file.” Cursor opened four files, added try-catch blocks to seven methods, and updated the test cases. It took about 45 seconds. Doing that manually would’ve taken me 20-30 minutes.

But here’s the catch: Agent Mode isn’t reliable for complex refactors. I tried asking it to “convert this REST API to use reactive programming with Project Reactor” and it produced code that compiled but had a race condition I only found in production. Use Agent Mode for bounded, well-defined tasks. Don’t use it for architectural changes.

Which AI Models Does Cursor Support?

Cursor lets you pick which model powers each feature. As of mid-2026, the options are:

Model	Best For	Speed	Quality
GPT-5.5 Turbo	General coding, fast completions	Fast	Good
Claude 4.7 Sonnet	Complex reasoning, refactors	Medium	Excellent
Gemini 3 Pro	Multi-file context, large projects	Slow	Very Good

My personal setup: GPT-5.5 Turbo for tab completions (speed matters more there), Claude 4.7 Sonnet for chat and agent mode (quality matters more there). This combo works well for me as a Java developer — Claude seems to understand enterprise patterns better than GPT.

If you’re curious about how these models compare outside of coding, my Claude vs ChatGPT comparison goes into detail on their general strengths and weaknesses.

Cursor Rules (The Hidden Power Feature)

Nobody told me about this for the first two weeks, and it’s arguably Cursor’s best feature.

Cursor Rules are project-level instructions that tell the AI how to write code for your specific project. You create a .cursorrules file in your project root, and every time Cursor generates code, it follows these rules.

Here’s the .cursorrules file from one of my Spring Boot projects:

- Use Java 21 features (records, sealed interfaces, pattern matching)
- Follow Google Java Style Guide
- Always use constructor injection, never field injection
- All public methods must have Javadoc comments
- Use SLF4J for logging, never System.out.println
- Test classes use AssertJ, not JUnit assertions

With these rules, Cursor generates code that looks like I wrote it. Without them, it defaults to whatever style the model feels like — usually a mix of patterns that doesn’t match any real project.

This is similar to what Claude Projects does with custom instructions — if you’re interested in that approach too, see my Claude Projects tutorial.

Pricing: Is Cursor Worth $20/Month?

Here’s the honest breakdown:

Plan	Price	What You Get	My Take
Hobby	Free	2,000 completions/month, basic chat	Good for trying it out
Pro	$20/month	Unlimited completions, 500 premium requests/month	Worth it if you code daily
Business	$40/user/month	Admin controls, SSO, priority	Only if your team mandates it

I pay for Pro. 500 premium requests (using Claude 4.7 or GPT-5.5) is usually enough for a month, though I’ve hit the limit twice when doing heavy refactors. When that happens, it falls back to a slower model that’s still decent.

Is it worth $20/month compared to free Copilot? For me, yes. The Agent Mode alone saves me 2-3 hours per week. But if you only write code occasionally, stick with the free tier.

What Still Annoys Me

I promised honesty, so here’s what I don’t like:

1. Agent Mode sometimes edits files I didn’t ask it to touch. I asked it to fix a bug in UserService and it also modified the DTO. The change was correct, but it wasn’t what I asked for. You have to review every file it touches, not just the one you mentioned.

2. The free tier burns through completions fast. 2,000 completions sounds generous, but if you’re coding 6+ hours a day, you’ll hit it in about a week. Then you’re typing everything manually until the next month.

3. Context window limits on large projects. If your project has 100+ files, Cursor sometimes “forgets” parts of the codebase. I’ve had it suggest imports for classes that don’t exist because it only saw the first 50 files. Claude’s bigger context window helps here, but it’s not perfect.

4. No built-in Git integration for AI. I wish Cursor could explain my Git history or suggest commit messages based on what it just did. Right now that’s all manual.

FAQ

Is Cursor better than GitHub Copilot?

For me, yes. Copilot does single-line suggestions well, but Cursor’s multi-file Agent Mode and project-aware Chat are genuinely different capabilities. If you just want Tab completions though, Copilot is fine and free.

Can I use Cursor for non-English projects?

Yes. I’ve used it with Chinese comments and it handles them fine. The AI models are multilingual, though English prompts tend to get better results.

Does Cursor work with Java?

Absolutely. That’s my primary language and it handles Spring Boot, Gradle, and standard Java patterns well. The .cursorrules file is especially useful for enforcing enterprise coding standards.

Will Cursor replace me as a developer?

No. It generates code, but you still need to review it, understand it, and make architectural decisions. Think of it as a very fast junior developer who never sleeps but sometimes makes weird choices.

What happens when I hit the premium request limit?

Cursor falls back to its “fast” model (a smaller, less capable model). It still works for basic completions and simple chat, but Agent Mode and complex refactors suffer. You can wait until next month or upgrade.

Final Thoughts

Cursor isn’t perfect, and I’m not pretending it is. Agent Mode can be unpredictable, the pricing stings if you’re a heavy user, and it sometimes forgets context in large projects. But for me, the productivity gain is real and measurable. I estimate I’m coding about 30-40% faster than I was with VS Code + Copilot, and that’s after subtracting the time I spend reviewing AI-generated code.

If you’re curious about other AI tools that have genuinely changed my workflow, I ranked them in my best AI tools for 2026 article — Cursor is #1 on that list now.

The bottom line: try the free tier for a week. If you don’t notice a difference, stick with VS Code. But if Agent Mode makes you say “oh, that’s actually useful” like I did, the $20/month is an easy call.