Cursor, we have a problem...
It's not me, it is you.
We need to have a conversation about Cursor. Yes the AI development environment has been all the rage. You see I have a problem with Cursor, in fact I have multiple problems with it.
To be fair to Cursor it is not the only culprit in this AI IDE hype arms race, but it and Windsurf are the prominent two that are forks of Visual Studio Code. Herein lies the first issue.
Foundation built on a competitor’s code base
Both Cursor and Windsurf are forks of Visual Studio Code. They are forks because VS Code extensions are limited in their ability to manipulate the user interface. Fair enough, that is a valid reason, but it is also a critical weakness.
VS Code at its core is open source but the version me and you download and install is a distribution built from that open source core. So what we normally download and install is NOT OPEN SOURCE. Yes I am yelling it so that it sinks in because somehow people are still surprised when I point this out.
There is VS Codium which is an open source distribution, but that is limited in the number of extensions that are available. Right here is where you should already start seeing the smoke from the dumpster fire that is “forking” VS Code.
The reason VS Code is so popular is due to all of the extensions that have been built for it. Many of those built by Microsoft, tons of them built by the community. It turns out that those core Microsoft extensions are only licensed to be used with VS Code. Microsoft recently stopped turning a blind eye to the shenanigans of those forks, and started blocking the installation of their extensions in them.
Cursor had to scramble and start to implement open source versions of the extensions that got blocked, so for now things are kind of back to normal. This should however raise serious questions.
Do you think that any corporation would spend resources building something like VS Code simply out of the kindness of their hearts? Do you think that it is a good idea to build your entire business on the back of a code base controlled at its core by a competitor? Not only a competitor but a behemoth who has survived many industry transitions. (Metaphorically the equivalent of the crocodile having been around since the age of the dinosaurs)
The answer here should be a clear NO.
A forced way of working
This is the one that really annoys me. See if your AI coding tools force you into a specific IDE then I get uncomfortable. Not all professionals have the same workflow, not all work requires the same tools. Have we learnt nothing after all of these years?
I know some exceptional SREs that live and die on the hill that is Vim. I am in awe of their knowledge, skill, and the impact they have.
I know exceptional developers that use Jetbrains tooling because that works best for them. Likewise I know others who swear by VS Code, and others that use different tools like Zed.
The point is, people spend a lot of time finding the tooling that works best for their particular niche. It makes them more effective at what they do. The tool should fit around the person and the job.
Having your AI tooling tied into a specific IDE runs counter to this. I am sorry, but not everyone in the world is coding React and NextJS applications. (Something Cursor is exceptionally good at). It is great if Cursor works for you and your workflow. Please don’t force it on everyone.
Yet this is exactly what has started to happen. I have heard multiple first hand accounts of companies buying Cursor licenses for their teams and encouraging people to switch to it.
The shift to coding agents
While the AI IDE wars have been raging, the shift to coding agents has been slowly gathering pace.
Aider (a firm favourite of mine) and Claude Code, were the first prominent ones on the scene, and OpenAI has just released Codex.
These tools are command line tools that run outside of your IDE. This immediately makes them compatible with more people’s workflow.
It is refreshing to not have the tool dictate the IDE I should use. It also opens up ideas of using smaller scale agents in other places in your workflow. For example agents doing initial code review or suggesting performance improvements.
My own experience so far
My own journey with AI IDEs and tools has not been overnight. I have built two products from scratch with the help of them. Both products are non-trivial solutions, each having data pipelines, databases, backend APIs, UIs, and all the infrastructure to deploy and run them.
I started out 18 months ago and the journey has been:
VS Code + GitHub Co-Pilot
VS Code + Cody (by Sourcegraph)
Cursor + Aider
VS Code + Augment Code
During that time I always checked back on the tools I used previously to see if they have improved.
Through all of this I have always had the best experience with the tools that did not force me into a single IDE. Ones where I get to choose what works best for me.
If my own experience is anything to go by then choose the tools that allow you the freedom to work how you work best.
Being forced into a single tool is a step backwards for all of us. This is especially the case when that tool can do a Venture Capital rug pull on you at any time, or can themselves be clobbered by the giant on who’s back they have decided to build their fortune.