An IDE built from the ground up around AI. Cursor is a fork of VS Code that adds AI into every interaction: typing, selecting, asking, and delegating.

AI autocomplete that predicts a whole edit (a diff, including deletions) from your recent edits and surrounding code — not just the next tokens. Press Tab to accept, Tab again to jump to the next predicted edit.

Select code, press Cmd/Ctrl+K, type an instruction; Cursor rewrites the selection in place and shows an inline diff to accept or reject.

A way to hand specific context to the AI in chat — e.g. @Files & Folders, @Docs, @Terminals — instead of pasting text.

Cursor’s autonomous mode (Cmd/Ctrl+I). It plans, edits across many files, runs terminal commands, and iterates. “Agent” is the mode; “Composer” is Cursor’s own model.

Toggle in the Agent input (Shift+Tab). The Agent researches, asks clarifying questions, and writes an editable Markdown plan you approve before it executes.

An automatic snapshot Cursor takes before significant Agent changes. Restore Checkpoint reverts all files to that point. Not a git commit — session-scoped.

Reusable instructions the model reads automatically. Project rules live in .cursor/rules/*.mdc (version-controlled). The old single-file .cursorrules is legacy.

An open standard that connects the Agent to external tools and data (databases, APIs, services). Configured in .cursor/mcp.json under the mcpServers key.

Cursor chunks your code, turns each chunk into a vector embedding, and stores it in a vector database so the AI can semantically retrieve the most relevant code.

A setting that lets the Agent run commands and apply edits without per-action confirmation (formerly “YOLO mode”). Guard it with an allow-list / deny-list.

Cursor’s own in-house coding model (Composer 1 → 2.5). A common gotcha: “Composer” is now a model, not the agentic mode — that mode is called Agent.

A file that excludes paths from indexing AND from AI access/context entirely — the AI cannot read those files at all.

A public financing statement a lender files to perfect a security interest in a debtor’s collateral. The §9-503 rule requires the debtor name to exactly match legal formation documents.