Working with Cursor

In this topic, we will explore Cursor's core features, underlying principles, and best practices for using AI effectively, safely, and collaboratively. By understanding both its capabilities and its limitations, you can make better decisions on when and how to rely on AI, ensuring that collaboration between human judgment and automated assistance remains productive and trustworthy.

Core workflows

Cursor redefines what it means to "work with code". Instead of navigating IDEs through clicks, search, or rigid templates, developers can interact with code using natural language, which will transform procedural tooling into conversational problem-solving.

Asking natural-language questions

Understanding code is a cognitive process. Cursor reduces this burden by turning codebases into semantically explorable knowledge spaces. Developers can highlight unfamiliar logic and ask:

• What is the purpose of this function?

• Can you explain how this recursive algorithm terminates?

• What is the computational complexity of this method?

Cursor analyzes your project's codebase to provide context-aware answers. It can reference open files, project symbols, and cross-file references to answer natural-language questions about unfamiliar functions, algorithms, or dependencies. This makes its responses project-specific rather than generic.

Inline refactors

Refactoring is often tedious and risky. Cursor makes it a collaborative activity. You can:

• Highlight a block of code and ask: "Convert this loop into a .reduce() expression."

• Perform global renames: "Rename userData to userProfile across the project."

• Extract logic: "Move lines 42–60 into a utility function called computeROI in math.ts."

Instead of applying changes immediately, Cursor shows you a Git-style diff. You can preview exactly which lines are being added, removed, or modified, and confirm the edits before they are applied.

Generating components and tests

Cursor isn't just reactive—it's generative. With a well-structured prompt, it can create:

• UI components aligned with your design system

• Strongly-typed data models

• Comprehensive unit or integration tests

• Documentation compliant with internal standards

This moves repetitive or boilerplate work to the AI, letting developers focus on architecture, domain logic, and user needs. It also helps maintain consistency across large codebases, especially in teams where different contributors manage various modules.

Converting requirements to tasks

Cursor helps developers link product and code by breaking down vague requirements into actionable steps. Given a feature like "Implement dark mode per user preference," you can present the following questions to Cursor:

• "Identify which modules need to be updated and generate a list of specific classes and tests to update or add."

• "Break this into multiple tasks, each under 4 hours."

• "Estimate story points and suggest test coverage."

This enables faster planning, clearer specifications, and better alignment with project goals.

Cursor features

Cursor is designed for both speed and safety. Its advanced features give developers confidence when making broad or risky changes.

MCP Server

MCP is a new standard protocol (defined by Anthropic, later adopted by Cursor and others) that lets developer tools and AI assistants talk to each other in a structured way. In Cursor, an MCP server refers to a process that speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP), where the server can be any tool, API, or service that exposes its functionality using MCP.

In order to enable MCP Server, we can use the Brave browser API key in Cursor. Go to Settings > MCP & Integrations, click Add custom MCP server, and paste this JSON:

    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "brave-search": {
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
            "-y",
            "@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search"
          ],
          "env": {
            "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY_HERE"
          }
        }
      }
    }

You can get your API key from the official Brave API key page. Once the MCP server is set up, you can query Brave Search directly from within Cursor.

Terminal commands

Cursor includes an integrated terminal just like other code editors. This allows you to run shell commands directly from Cursor itself. However, using terminal commands can sometimes introduce unexpected and unforeseen changes. This is because terminal commands can affect your entire project by making drastic and potentially destructive changes. To mitigate this, you can prefix the command with ! and send it as a prompt. When you prefix a shell command with !, Cursor will:

• Explain what the command does

• List affected files

• Ask for confirmation before running it

This makes it safe to automate repetitive shell tasks like code cleanup or mass-renaming:

!grep -Rl "System.out.println" | xargs sed -i '' 's/System.out.println/Logger.debug/'

Model switching

Cursor allows you to select from a variety of supported language models via a dropdown under the AI input box. Available options include models from OpenAI, Anthropic, (Grok) xAI, and potentially others depending on your plan and updates.

Diff viewer and Git rollback

Every AI-generated change appears as a Git-style diff. You can:

• Inspect each diff before accepting

• Stage selected hunks

• Roll back changes via Git if needed

This workflow ensures transparency, reversibility, and compliance with your team's code review standards.

Prompt & collaboration best practices

To use Cursor effectively, developers should learn to create effective prompts and integrate them into team workflows. Good prompts significantly improve output quality. You can follow the CRAFT format to create better prompts:

• Context: Provide relevant background information and situational details that help the AI understand the setting and requirements.

• Role: Define what role or persona you want the AI to adopt (e.g., "Act as a marketing expert", "You are a technical writer who specializes in ...").

• Action: Clearly specify what you want the AI to do - the specific task or output you're requesting.

• Format: Describe how you want the response structured (bullet points, paragraph form, table, specific length, etc.).

• Tone: Indicate the desired tone or style (professional, casual, enthusiastic, technical, etc.).

Example: In authService.ts, refactor validateLogin() to remove duplication. Use existing utility methods and return only the code.

Requesting reasoning and code

Cursor is more than a code generator—it's a reasoning partner that helps you think through design tradeoffs and implementation decisions. You can ask questions like:

• "Why is SHA-256 better than SHA-1 in this context?"

• "Compare debounce vs. throttle for this user input pattern."

These interactions are particularly valuable during architectural discussions, onboarding new engineers, or when documenting design rationale. Cursor helps explain decisions and highlight best practices—not just write code.

Collaboration through reviews

Cursor enhances collaboration in your code review process. For example, if your reviewer comments:

• "Switch this to PATCH."

You can prompt:

• "Update the endpoint to use PATCH instead of PUT and adjust validation."

Cursor creates a Git-style diff that matches the review feedback. You can review it, approve the change, and commit—making the feedback loop shorter while maintaining quality and control.

Validating through compilation and testing

While AI assistance speeds up your workflow, you still need sound engineering judgment. So, you should always:

• Run your test suite

• Lint and format the code

• Validate edge cases manually

Consider Cursor a powerful collaborator that increases productivity and insight—but never as a replacement for thorough review and accountability.

AI tools like Cursor can speed up your development workflow, but you still need careful engineering. Though powerful, Cursor isn't perfect—it may generate incorrect code, miss edge cases, or misinterpret instructions.

Conclusion

As a developer, your core responsibilities remain unchanged: building reliable software, making smart decisions, and collaborating effectively. Cursor provides a faster and safer path to achieve these goals. Master its workflows, practice writing clear prompts, use its safety features, and bring your team along on this journey.

The developers who master tools like Cursor won't just write more code—they'll shape the future of software development.