Welcome to Cursor AI

The Tool That Changed How Developers Code

Over a million developers switched to Cursor in its first 16 months. More than half of Fortune 500 companies — including Nvidia, Uber, and Adobe — adopted it for their engineering teams. And 360,000 people pay for it monthly.

That’s unusual for a code editor. VS Code took years to reach that kind of adoption. So what’s going on?

Here’s the short version: Cursor isn’t VS Code with AI sprinkled on top. It’s an AI-first editor that happens to look like VS Code. The difference sounds subtle, but it changes everything about how you write code.

What Cursor Actually Is

Cursor is a code editor built on VS Code’s open-source foundation. Your extensions work. Your shortcuts work. Your themes work. If you’ve used VS Code, Cursor feels immediately familiar.

But under the surface, Cursor added capabilities that VS Code can’t replicate with plugins:

Feature	VS Code + Copilot	Cursor
Code suggestions	Inline completions	Inline + multi-line predictive edits
Chat	Sidebar Q&A	Chat that reads your entire codebase
File editing	Manual	AI edits multiple files simultaneously
Terminal	Manual commands	AI runs commands, fixes errors automatically
Context	Current file	Entire project via semantic search
Rules	None	Project-specific AI behavior rules

Copilot suggests the next line. Cursor understands your project and can rewrite entire features across multiple files while running tests to verify the changes work.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this course, you’ll know how to:

Navigate Cursor’s interface and set it up for your workflow
Use Tab completion that predicts not just words, but your next edit
Edit code inline with Cmd+K — describe what you want, get a diff to review
Chat with your codebase using @ symbols for precise context
Let Agent mode work autonomously — editing files, running commands, fixing errors
Write rules files that make Cursor follow your project’s coding standards
Use advanced features like Background Agents, BugBot, and MCP servers

What to Expect

Each lesson takes 10-20 minutes. The course follows a building-block structure:

Lesson	What You’ll Learn	Builds On
1 (this one)	What Cursor is, pricing, setup	—
2	Interface tour, VS Code migration	Lesson 1
3	Tab completion, inline editing (Cmd+K)	Lesson 2
4	Chat (Cmd+L), @ symbols, context layers	Lesson 3
5	Agent mode, checkpoints, Plan mode	Lesson 4
6	Rules files, Notepads, custom docs, MCP	Lesson 5
7	Background Agents, BugBot, Memories	Lesson 6
8	Capstone: build a real project workflow	All lessons

No coding projects are required — but you’ll get more out of the course if you have Cursor open and try things as you go.

Cursor’s Pricing (2026)

Before diving in, here’s what Cursor costs:

Plan	Price	What You Get
Hobby (Free)	$0	2,000 completions/mo, 50 slow premium requests
Pro	$20/mo	Unlimited Tab completions, $20 credit pool for premium models
Business	$40/user/mo	Same AI as Pro + SAML SSO, admin controls, enforced privacy
Pro+	$60/mo	Higher credit pool for heavy users
Ultra	$200/mo	20x usage, priority access to new features

The free plan is enough to complete this course and decide if Cursor fits your workflow. Students get one year of Pro free with a .edu email.

✅ Quick Check: If Cursor is built on VS Code, why can’t VS Code just add the same AI features with extensions? Because Cursor’s AI capabilities require changes to the editor’s core — how it indexes files, processes context, and applies edits. Extensions can only add features on top of the existing editor; they can’t change how the editor fundamentally works. That’s why Cursor forked VS Code instead of building a plugin.

Key Takeaways

Cursor is a VS Code fork rebuilt around AI — same look, fundamentally different capabilities
Over 1M users and 360K paying customers in 16 months, adopted by 50%+ Fortune 500
Credit-based pricing: Free tier for getting started, Pro at $20/mo for serious use
Your VS Code extensions, themes, and settings transfer with one click
This course covers the full Cursor workflow from Tab completion to Background Agents

Up Next

In Lesson 2, you’ll install Cursor, import your VS Code setup, and learn the interface — where everything lives, how indexing works, and the settings that matter most.