
Cursor AI Code Editor: The Complete Setup & Workflow Guide
A practical map of Cursor's AI-native workflow: context control, MCP servers, rules, indexing, and Composer, with links to the deep-dive guides for each.
Practical tips for AI coding assistants, prompts, and productivity workflows you can use today.

A practical map of Cursor's AI-native workflow: context control, MCP servers, rules, indexing, and Composer, with links to the deep-dive guides for each.

Local models still trail Claude on multi-step reasoning, but for regulated environments where code genuinely can't leave the machine, that tradeoff is well worth making.

A practical map of Cursor's AI-native workflow: context control, MCP servers, rules, indexing, and Composer, with links to the deep-dive guides for each.

Local models still trail Claude on multi-step reasoning, but for regulated environments where code genuinely can't leave the machine, that tradeoff is well worth making.

Cursor indexes your working directory, not just what Git tracks, so an untracked .env file can still leak straight into a prompt. Here's how to lock that down properly.

An agent that can run SELECT * FROM orders can usually also run DELETE FROM orders unless you stop it. Here's the exact MCP config, and where to draw the read-only line.

Cline is an open-source client where you bring your own API key; Claude Code is Anthropic's own terminal agent tied to a subscription. The real split is cost and control versus polish.

Explains how to utilize Anthropic's Prompt Caching to reduce API bills when using tools like Cline or Continue.dev. Details the mechanics of context window reloading and how to structure files to maximize cache hits.

Reinstalling Cursor rarely fixes a broken index. On monorepos above roughly 50,000 files, an aggressive .cursorignore plus a manual reindex almost always does instead.

Get the scoping wrong in Composer and it will happily rewrite files you never meant to touch at all. Here's the exact workflow for scaffolding and modifying multi-file features safely.