Cursor is an AI-native code editor built as a fork of Visual Studio Code by Anysphere. Rather than bolting AI onto an editor as an extension, Cursor rebuilds the editor around AI agents, with the model understanding your entire codebase and capable of refactoring many files at once, writing tests, and fixing bugs.

Key Features

• AI-native editing — the model understands the whole codebase via full-repository indexing, not just the open file
• Composer agent — plans and executes multi-file edits and refactors autonomously
• Inline autocomplete and chat — tab-completions and conversational coding built into the editor
• Agents Window — orchestrates local, cloud, and background agents across multiple repositories
• Frontier model access — uses OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other leading models
• Notes: proprietary licence — Cursor is closed-source, with a free tier and paid plans starting at $20/month

Why Use Cursor?

Cursor is widely considered the benchmark for AI-powered coding thanks to its native agent integration and codebase indexing. It is the paid, proprietary alternative when you want the most polished agentic editing workflow — at the cost of source openness and subscription pricing.

Use Cases

• Large-scale refactoring across hundreds of files
• Writing tests and fixing bugs with agentic assistance
• Framework migrations and multi-file changes
• Teams that prioritise an all-in-one AI editor over open-source tooling

Platform

Desktop app — macOS · Windows · Linux

Licence

Proprietary (closed source)

Website

cursor.com