Cursor is a specialized AI-powered code editor that is built on top of Visual Studio Code (VS Code). Think of it as VS Code, but with deeper AI integrations baked in from the start. Cursor is VS Code with AI superpowers. It’s designed to make your coding workflow faster and more collaborative with AI.
Who Is It For?
Cursor is designed for anyone who already feels comfortable in Visual Studio Code but wants a smoother way to bring AI into their everyday coding. It’s a good fit for beginners who like extra guidance while learning, as well as more experienced developers who want faster autocomplete, instant code explanations, or quick refactoring help. Because Cursor works just like VS Code, it’s easy to pick up if you’ve used that editor before, and the built-in AI makes it especially useful for solo coders, students, or small teams looking to boost productivity without changing their workflow.
Skill Levels
We could define four skill levels of AI agent programming. The first is no coding experience. The second level is a Python programmer. The third level would be an AI Engineer and the fourth level would be an AI Agent Engineer. The takeaway here is that you’ll want to be familiar with Python before you jump into AI Agent Programming. Ypu’ll also want to be familiar with what AIis and what AI Agents are.
What is It?
It’s a fork of VS Code — so the interface, extensions, themes, and workflows feel very familiar if you already know VS Code. The team behind Cursor added AI-first features: chat with your codebase, autocomplete, refactoring, debugging assistance, and doc lookups. It’s designed to streamline programming by making the editor itself more conversational and proactive.
AI Chat: You can highlight code and ask Cursor questions about it, similar to ChatGPT but context-aware of your project. Smarter Autocomplete: Instead of just token-based suggestions, Cursor can suggest multi-line completions informed by the surrounding code. Refactoring & Fixes: Cursor can rewrite blocks of code, suggest improvements, or even run test fixes. Context Awareness: It indexes your local repo so AI answers are grounded in your actual codebase. Compatibility: Since it’s built on VS Code, you can use your existing extensions, keyboard shortcuts, and themes.
Why Developers Use It
If you like VS Code but want tighter AI integration without extra setup, Cursor is appealing. It’s being adopted by devs who are already experimenting with GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT but want something more seamless and repo-aware. Some describe it as “Copilot++” — a blend of coding, debugging, and natural-language interaction.