Cursor is an AI code editor developed by Anysphere Labs that is based on a modified derivation of Visual Studio Code (VSCode), so it inherits many of the features of VSCode, and all configurations on VSCode can be imported and used in Cursor. Here are some of the key features and functionality of Cursor:
- AI-assisted programming: Cursor has built-in AI for code collaboration, which makes it a smoother experience than VSCode plugins like Github Copilot for code completion, dialog windows, and code generation rewrites.
- code completion: Cursor provides high-precision code-completion functionality that can reason about subsequent code content, and the user simply clicks the
tabkey to receive its suggestions. - dialog window: Cursor's dialog window allows users to communicate with the AI through natural language for better code generation. In contrast to Github Copilot, the code generated by Cursor can be applied directly to the user's code because it outputs a diff format like Git.
- Multi-file editing: Cursor's Composer feature allows you to make changes to multiple files at the same time in a dialog window, which is especially useful when working on complex projects.
- context-sensitive: Cursor has designed different
@annotations to easily provide contextual information to the larger language model, for example@Files,@Code,@Docs,@Webetc. These notations can provide contextual information such as code files, code blocks, official documentation and web search results. - Privacy Mode: Cursor provides a privacy mode that, when enabled, does not store any of the user's code, enhancing data security.
- indexing function: Cursor is similar to JetBrains so that the codebin indexing , vectorization , in order to do similarity searches and get better generation results .
- (computer) shortcut key: Cursor has designed specialized shortcuts to use its AI features, such as
CTRL/CMD + LOpen the dialog box.CTRL/CMD + KOpen the Generation window.CTRL/CMD + IOpen Composer. - Setup and Migration: Users can import VS Code configurations into Cursor with a single click, and Cursor regularly adjusts itself to maintain VS Code based on the latest version.
These features of Cursor make it a powerful AI programming assistant that can significantly improve developers' programming productivity and experience.
