Cursor

Cursor is an AI-native code editor developed by Anysphere and built as a fork of Visual Studio Code. It brings AI assistance deeper into the editing experience than traditional copilot plugins, with three core interaction modes that work together across your entire codebase.

Tab completion is Cursor's most distinctive feature — it goes beyond token-level autocomplete to predict entire multi-line edits, including changes to surrounding code. It models what you're likely to do next, not just what word comes next, making it feel more like a collaborative co-pilot than a suggestion engine.

Chat gives you a conversation panel with full codebase context. You can reference files, symbols, and documentation using @-mentions, ask questions about existing code, and get explanations or refactoring suggestions without leaving the editor. Cursor automatically pulls relevant context from your project into each prompt.

Agent mode (formerly Composer) handles multi-step, multi-file tasks autonomously. Describe a feature or bug fix in natural language; the agent plans the approach, edits multiple files, runs terminal commands, and verifies the result. Cloud Agents extend this to background tasks that run without keeping your local machine on.

Cursor ships with a model switcher that lets you choose between Claude (Sonnet, Opus), OpenAI (GPT-4o, o1, o3), and Google Gemini models for different tasks. Auto mode selects the best model without drawing from your credit pool; manually selecting premium models consumes monthly credits included with paid plans.

Privacy mode is available on all plans — when enabled, no code is stored on Cursor's servers or used for training. The editor is fully compatible with VS Code extensions and settings files, making migration from VS Code nearly frictionless.

Cursor is a proprietary product; the GitHub repository hosts issues and documentation but not the full source code.