Cursor

What it is

Cursor is a code editor built around an AI agent. You open a folder or repository, and the agent can search it, read and edit files, run commands and use the web.

When to pick it

When you want the agent inside your editor, next to the code, rather than in a terminal or a chat window. It also runs Codex through its IDE extension, if you want both.

Setup

1. Download Cursor from cursor.com/download (Mac, Windows or Linux) and sign in with a free Cursor account.
2. File, Open Folder, and open your project.
3. Open the agent with Cmd+I (Ctrl+I on Windows and Linux). Shift+Tab switches modes: Agent makes changes, Ask is read-only, Plan drafts a plan before building, and Debug works through a bug with you.
4. Give it rules. Project rules go in .cursor/rules as .mdc files, and Cursor also reads AGENTS.md. Plain .md files in .cursor/rules are ignored.
5. List anything the agent shouldn't read in .cursorignore.

A first real task

In Ask mode: "Explain what this project does and where its main entry point is." Then in Plan mode, ask for one small change, read the plan, and click Build.

Connect it to your site or data

Cursor reads MCP servers from .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects. A remote server needs only a URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memberpress-ai-academy": { "url": "https://academy.memberpress.ai/mcp" }
  }
}

On a paid plan, Cloud Agents (once called Background Agents) run the same work on a branch in a cloud machine and push it for review.

Checked against Cursor's docs on 2026-10-14: Cursor docs, install, Ask mode, Plan mode, Debug mode, agent, rules, ignore file, MCP, Cloud Agents.