Cursor AI Review: Is It Time to Say Goodbye to VS Code?

Cursor AI is worth trying if you already use VS Code, because it is VS Code under the hood with AI built into the core. Your themes, extensions, and keybindings carry over, and you gain codebase-aware chat, inline Cmd + K edits, and one-click AI debugging. The trade-offs are a $20/month Pro tier for heavy use, occasional confident hallucinations, and privacy questions for sensitive code.

The hype is everywhere: it seems like every other post on X (formerly Twitter) or Dev.to is someone claiming they uninstalled VS Code and will never look back. But switching your main IDE is a massive commitment, so this review looks at what Cursor actually offers for everyday work like building a React frontend, writing Python automation scripts, or editing markdown.

What is Cursor AI?

Cursor is a code editor built specifically around AI. It is a fork of VS Code, which means it looks, feels, and acts exactly like VS Code. Your themes work, your extensions work, and your keybindings work.

But instead of just adding a chatbot window to the side (like GitHub Copilot Chat), the AI is baked into the very core of the editor. It uses models like GPT-4 and Claude 3.5 Sonnet to understand your entire codebase.

What makes Cursor's chat different? (Cmd/Ctrl + L)

Cursor's chat stands out because it knows about all your files. You can press Cmd + L (or Ctrl + L) to open it.

Instead of copying and pasting code from three different files into ChatGPT and explaining how they connect, you can just type: "How does the authentication flow work in this project? Refer to auth.ts and login.tsx."

Cursor reads the files, understands the context, and gives a direct answer. It can even suggest code changes that span across multiple files. This single feature can save a lot of time otherwise lost to context-switching.

What are Cursor's best features?

Three features stand out as game-changers for daily coding.

1. Command-K (The Magic Wand)

Pressing Cmd + K opens a small prompt box right in your editor. You can highlight a block of code, press Cmd + K, and type something like: "Refactor this to use React hooks instead of a class component" or "Make this function more memory efficient."

It generates a diff right in line. You can review the red (deletions) and green (additions), and just hit Enter to accept. It feels incredibly natural. A handy workflow is to write a comment explaining what you want a function to do, hit Cmd + K, and let it write the boilerplate.

2. Painless Bug Fixing

We’ve all been there: you get a massive, cryptic red error in your terminal. In VS Code, you copy the error, paste it into Google, and start clicking StackOverflow links.

In Cursor, there is literally a button next to terminal errors that says "Debug with AI". Click it, and Cursor analyzes the error, looks at the relevant files, and tells you what went wrong and how to fix it. It can be impressively accurate, though it is not always right.

3. Claude 3.5 Sonnet Integration

You can choose which AI model Cursor uses under the hood. While GPT-4o is great, selecting Claude 3.5 Sonnet can turn Cursor into an absolute beast. In my view, Claude is better at understanding large, complex coding structures without forgetting context. If you use Cursor, try Claude for your primary coding tasks!

What are the downsides of Cursor?

It wouldn't be a fair review without the pain points.

• The Pricing: Cursor isn't entirely free. There's a free tier, but you can blow through the fast AI requests very quickly if you code every day. The Pro tier is $20/month. While I think it pays for itself in time saved, it is an extra subscription you have to manage.
• Sometimes it hallucinates confidently: Just like any LLM, it will occasionally make up a function that doesn't exist in a library. Because it writes the code so confidently and formats it beautifully, you might trust it blindly and then lose time figuring out why library.doMagicFunction() is throwing an undefined error.
• Privacy Concerns: You are sending your codebase context to an AI server. Cursor has an "enterprise" privacy mode, but if you are working on highly sensitive or proprietary code for a strict employer, you might not be allowed to use it.

The Verdict: Should You Switch from VS Code to Cursor?

If you use VS Code today, I think yes.

Because Cursor is VS Code under the hood, switching doesn't mean giving anything up. You keep your favorite extensions and themes and only gain powerful AI abilities.

If you are a developer, I recommend downloading it and trying it for a weekend project. You don't have to change your workflow immediately, but once you get used to Cmd + K and codebase-aware chat, writing code the old way can feel like coding with one hand tied behind your back.

Have you tried Cursor yet? Let me know what you think!