Getting started with Cursor

I downloaded Cursor on a tuesday because vscode was making me feel like I was fighting the editor more than the actual bug. First night I asked it to fix the login and it rewrote half the auth file. Technically it worked. I also couldnt tell you what it changed.

That is the whole first-night problem in one paragraph. The install is easy. The first prompt is where people blow it.

This is step 1 of the Cursor path. If you have not named the problem yet, go back to You dont need another tool. If you are still picking Cursor vs Claude vs Grok, Which tool when is the honest version. This post assumes the work lives in a folder.

Get the app on the machine

Cursor publishes a download page at cursor.com/download. Their help article says sign up free at cursor.com if you do not have an account yet, then install.

On a Mac you get a .dmg. Open it, drag Cursor into Applications, launch it from there or Spotlight. Official quickstart says macOS 12 Monterey and later, Apple Silicon and Intel both supported.

On Windows you get a .exe. Run it, click through. They say Windows 10 and later.

Linux is the one with extra steps, which is fine if you already live there. Debian and Ubuntu can add their apt repo and sudo apt install cursor. Fedora and RHEL can add the yum repo and sudo dnf install cursor. There is also an AppImage on cursor.com/downloads if you just want a file you chmod and run. Their docs say the apt and yum packages are preferred because you get icons, updates, and the CLI. I used the AppImage once on a machine I did not want a repo on. It ran. That is all I needed.

You do not have to uninstall VS Code. Official help says they run as separate apps and you can keep both on the same projects. I still have Code installed. I open it maybe once a month when I am being stubborn.

Sign in, then steal your old setup

Open the app and sign in with your Cursor account when it asks. Help is pretty short about this: account, then you are ready, then File > Open Folder. Do the sign in. Without it the AI features are just a gray panel you keep poking.

If you already live in VS Code, import that setup. Cursor is built on the VS Code codebase on purpose. The documented path is:

Open Cursor Settings with Cmd+Shift+J on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows or Linux. Go to General, then Account. Under VS Code Import, click Import.

That brings over extensions, themes, settings, and keybindings. Custom shortcuts come with it. The default shortcuts already match VS Code, so your fingers will mostly work even if you skip this, but skipping it means you get a stock theme and none of the extensions you actually use.

Two caveats from their own pages, not from a blog. Cursor pulls extensions from Open VSX, not the VS Code Marketplace, so a few odd ones may be missing or behave a little different. And you can still run both editors. I imported, then spent ten minutes looking for a lint plugin that never showed up, then I just lived without it for a week. The import is still worth doing.

If it offers the import the first time you launch, take it. If you dismissed that screen like I did because I wanted to "just look around," the settings path above still works later. I did the later path. Felt dumb.

Open one folder and wait a minute

File > Open Folder. Pick the project. Not your whole home directory. Not five repos at once because you are "just exploring."

Their first-project help is this short: open Cursor, File > Open Folder, pick the folder. That is the project model. There is no special Cursor project file you have to create. JetBrains people bump into that. VS Code people already know it.

After you open a repo, especially a fresh clone, give it a minute. Cursor reads the codebase so Agent can search it. If the first answer is weirdly generic, like it has not seen your route names, that is often a half-built index not a dumb model. Official troubleshooting even has a Reindex command in the command palette if files are missing from search. I have used it after cloning a client repo and immediately asking about auth. The first reply talked about a middleware file we do not have. I waited, reindexed, asked again, and it pointed at src/auth/login.ts like it had been there the whole time. It had.

Do not start a second install while it thinks. Make tea. Open the README yourself. Then talk to it.

First prompt, keep it small

Agent is the side panel. Cmd+I on a Mac, Ctrl+I on Windows and Linux. Cmd+L / Ctrl+L also toggles that panel. Type in the box, send.

Their first-project example is "Add a dark mode toggle to the settings page." Their quickstart is even milder: ask it to explain the codebase and point at the main entry points. Both are better than what I did, which was "fix the login."

A first night I would actually repeat:

The login form posts to /api/login. I get a 401 with the test user. Here is the response body. Look at the handler, do not rewrite the session helper. Tell me what you would change.

Or even smaller. Explain src/auth/login.ts and tell me where the password check happens.

You can @ a file in the input, @login.ts, if you already know which one. Agent also searches on its own. I still @ the file because it keeps me honest about what I think the problem is.

Inline edit is Cmd+K / Ctrl+K if you have a chunk selected and you want a local rewrite. Tab accepts the ghost text. Those are useful later. Night one I would stay in the Agent panel so you can see it work and then read the diff.

It will apply edits as it goes. Review them. Reject the ones that wandered. I did not, the first night, and I spent the next morning trying to remember why session.ts had a new helper.

What I do not do on night one

I do not ask it to scaffold an app. I do not paste a product spec. I do not turn on every mode. Agent, Ask, Plan, and Debug all exist, Shift+Tab cycles them, and switching modes starts a fresh context. Fine. Use Agent. Ask a small thing. Read what it did.

I also do not pick a model like I am buying a car. There is a picker. Cmd+/ cycles models if you care. I used the default until I had a feel for the panel.

If the work is not in a folder, you are in the wrong getting-started. Claude for a messy email or a draft. Grok for a current take. Come back when there are files.

Next is pick one real problem, which is the part I skipped when I asked it to fix login and got a half rewrite I couldnt narrate. Then show it the files, when it goes wrong, and make it stick.

Install, import, open a folder, wait, ask one small thing. If you did those five and the answer named a real file, you started. Everything else is decoration you can add after the 401 is gone.