How to Use Cursor AI for Coding: Complete 2025 Guide
Cursor is more than a code editor — it’s an AI pair programmer that understands your entire codebase. This guide covers everything from setup to advanced techniques.
Getting Started
- Download Cursor from cursor.sh (free)
- Import your VS Code settings (one click — Cursor is a VS Code fork)
- Open your project folder
- Your extensions and keybindings transfer automatically
Core Cursor Features (with keyboard shortcuts)
Tab Completion (Tab)
Cursor predicts your next line as you type. Press Tab to accept. This is more context-aware than GitHub Copilot because Cursor analyzes your entire codebase.
Tip: When Cursor shows a multi-line suggestion you like, press Tab to accept all lines at once.
Cmd+K: Inline Code Generation
Select any code or place cursor, press Cmd+K, describe what you want. Examples:
- Select a function → ‘Add error handling and logging’
- In empty file → ‘Create a React component that fetches and displays user data from /api/users’
- Select buggy code → ‘Fix this — it’s throwing a null reference error’
Cursor Chat (Cmd+L)
Ask questions about your codebase:
- ‘How does authentication work in this codebase?’
- ‘Where is the user object defined and what properties does it have?’
- ‘What happens when this API endpoint is called?’
Composer (Cmd+Shift+I)
The most powerful feature. Describe multi-file changes and Cursor executes them:
- ‘Add a dark mode toggle that persists user preference to localStorage and applies it to all pages’
- ‘Refactor all API calls to use our new APIClient class instead of fetch directly’
Power User Tips
- @ mentions: In chat, type @filename or @function to give Cursor specific context
- .cursorrules file: Create project-specific instructions (‘Always use TypeScript, prefer functional components, add JSDoc comments’)
- Notepads: Save reusable context (API docs, coding standards) that Cursor can reference
Ready to get started?
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