---
source: 'https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/cursor'
section: ai-tools
title: Cursor
description: >-
  AI-native code editor with intelligent completion, parallel and cloud agents,
  and frontier models built in. SpaceX closed its Anysphere buyout in August
  2026.
category: Code & Development
toolLevel: featured
developer: Anysphere
projectType: Desktop Application
pricing: Freemium
launchDate: '2023-03-01'
modelUsed: >-
  Composer 2.5, Grok 4.6, Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5,
  GPT-5.6 Sol, Gemini 3.8 Flash
officialWebsite: 'https://cursor.com'
pricingPage: 'https://cursor.com/pricing'
tags:
  - AI Tool
  - Code Editor
  - Development
  - Productivity
  - IDE
  - Code Generation
  - AI Chat
difficultyLevel: Beginner
setupTime: 2 minutes
apiAvailable: true
integrationTypes:
  - Desktop
  - IDE
  - CLI
isReviewed: true
lastUpdated: '2026-09-06'
---

# Cursor

> AI-native code editor with intelligent completion, parallel and cloud agents, and frontier models built in. SpaceX closed its Anysphere buyout in August 2026.

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor built to make you extraordinarily productive. It combines the familiarity of VS Code with cutting-edge AI capabilities, offering intelligent code completion, natural language editing, and frontier AI models built right into your development environment.

## Overview

Launched in 2023, Cursor has quickly become the go-to AI code editor for developers worldwide. It's designed to feel familiar while providing AI superpowers that transform how you write code. The editor is trusted by engineers at leading companies like Samsung, Stripe, Rippling, Perplexity, Ramp, Shopify, and many others.

**Ownership has changed.** SpaceX announced an agreement to acquire Anysphere on June 16, 2026 in a $60 billion all-stock transaction — widely described as the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup on record — and **closed it in mid-August 2026**, folding Anysphere into its SpaceXAI unit alongside xAI. Cursor kept its name, its plans and its multi-vendor model list through the close. The thing worth noticing is structural rather than cosmetic: the company that builds [Grok](https://howaiworks.ai/models/grok) now also owns the editor that co-trains it, ships it on every paid plan, and publishes the CursorBench numbers it is measured on.

Cursor distinguishes itself by being purpose-built for AI coding, offering seamless integration of AI capabilities directly into the editor experience. Unlike traditional code editors with AI extensions, Cursor is designed from the ground up with AI as a core feature.

## Key Features

- **Tab Completion**: Intelligent code completion that predicts your next edit.
- **Parallel Agents**: Run multiple agents at once on different parts of your codebase, locally or as cloud agents in isolated VMs.
- **Codebase Awareness**: Get answers from your codebase with secure codebase indexing and semantic search.
- **Natural Language Editing**: Write code using instructions and update entire modules with simple prompts ([vibe coding](https://howaiworks.ai/glossary/vibe-coding) approach).
- **Frontier Intelligence**: Cursor's own Composer 2.5 and the co-trained Grok 4.6 are included on paid plans; Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, the GPT-5.6 tiers and Gemini 3.8 Flash need Pro or higher.
- **Agentic Tooling**: Run tests, execute terminal commands, and use MCPs, skills, and hooks.
- **Bugbot**: Agentic code reviews on pull requests.
- **Familiar Interface**: Full VS Code compatibility with one-click migration.

## How It Works

Cursor uses advanced AI models to understand your codebase and provide intelligent assistance. The process involves:

1. **Codebase Analysis**: Analyzes your entire project structure and context
2. **Pattern Recognition**: Identifies coding patterns and project-specific conventions
3. **Intelligent Prediction**: Predicts your next edit based on context and patterns
4. **Natural Language Processing**: Understands instructions in plain English
5. **Real-time Assistance**: Provides suggestions and completions as you type

**Technical Architecture:**
- **Models** (from [cursor.com/docs/models](https://cursor.com/docs/models)): Cursor-provider models are [Composer 2.5](https://howaiworks.ai/models/composer) and [Grok 4.6](https://howaiworks.ai/models/grok), each in a standard and a Fast variant, with Grok 4.5 still listed. Everything else needs Pro or higher: [Claude Fable 5.1](https://howaiworks.ai/models/claude-fable), [Claude Opus 5](https://howaiworks.ai/models/claude-opus) and [Claude Sonnet 5](https://howaiworks.ai/models/claude-sonnet) plus a long tail of older Claude releases; [GPT-5.6](https://howaiworks.ai/models/gpt) Sol, Terra and Luna and the GPT-5 line; [Gemini 3.8 Flash](https://howaiworks.ai/models/gemini) and earlier Gemini releases; and third-party entries including Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2.
- **Agentic Engine**: Orchestrates parallel agents for multi-file changes, including cloud agents in isolated VMs.
- **Privacy**: Privacy Mode guarantees code data is not used for training by Cursor or its model providers.
- **Performance**: Optimized for speed and responsiveness
- **Extensibility**: Full VS Code extension compatibility; MCPs, skills, hooks, and a marketplace
- **Cross-platform**: Available on macOS, Windows, and Linux, plus a CLI and an iOS app

Three things about that model list are worth spelling out.

**OpenAI's current flagship is not on it.** [GPT-6 Astra](https://howaiworks.ai/models/gpt) shipped on September 4, 2026 and does not appear in Cursor's model picker; the newest OpenAI models Cursor offers are the GPT-5.6 tiers. If Astra is the model you want driving your repository, [Codex](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/openai-codex) has it and Cursor does not.

**[Claude Fable 5.1](https://howaiworks.ai/models/claude-fable) is the one to reach for on long sessions.** Its sticker price is unchanged from Fable 5 at $10 / $50 per million tokens, but a prompt-cache read now costs $0.25 per million instead of $1.00 — a 75% cut, and cache reads are most of the bill in an editor agent that replays a large cached prefix on every turn. Anthropic puts the saving at roughly 25% on typical use and up to 45% on highly agentic work.

**[Composer 2.5](https://howaiworks.ai/models/composer) is Cursor's own model, but not Cursor's own pretraining.** Released May 18, 2026, it is post-trained from Moonshot's open-source Kimi K2.5 checkpoint. Moonshot retired the `kimi-k2.5` and `moonshot-v1` endpoints from its own API on August 31, 2026; that does not affect Composer, which runs on weights Cursor serves itself, but the base checkpoint can no longer be called at Moonshot.

## Use Cases

### Software Development
- **Rapid Prototyping**: Quickly build and iterate on applications
- **Code Refactoring**: Update entire classes or functions with natural language
- **Feature Development**: Accelerate feature implementation with AI assistance
- **Bug Fixing**: Get intelligent suggestions for debugging and fixes
- **Documentation**: Generate and update code documentation

### Learning & Education
- **Code Examples**: Learn new patterns through AI-generated examples
- **Best Practices**: Discover industry-standard coding approaches
- **Language Learning**: Explore new programming languages with guided assistance
- **Code Explanation**: Understand complex code through AI explanations

### Productivity Enhancement
- **Boilerplate Generation**: Create common patterns and structures quickly
- **API Integration**: Generate code for connecting to external services
- **Configuration Management**: Create and update config files
- **Test Generation**: Write comprehensive tests with AI assistance

### Specialized Development
- **Web Development**: Generate HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and framework code
- **Data Science**: Create data processing and analysis scripts
- **Mobile Development**: Generate code for cross-platform applications
- **DevOps**: Create deployment scripts and infrastructure code

## Pricing & Access

Prices in **USD**, from [cursor.com/pricing](https://cursor.com/pricing). Every plan includes a set amount of model usage; on-demand usage beyond that is billed in arrears.

### Hobby — Free
- No credit card required
- Limited Agent requests
- Limited Tab completions

### Individual — from $20/month (Pro; Pro+ and Ultra tiers available)
- Everything in Hobby, plus:
- Extended limits on Agent
- Access to frontier models
- MCPs, skills, and hooks
- Cloud agents
- Bugbot on usage-based billing

Cursor recommends Pro+ for daily agent users and Ultra for agent power users.

### Teams — $40/user/month (Standard; Premium tier available)
- Everything on Individual, plus:
- Centralized team billing and administration
- Team marketplace for internal rules, skills, and plugins
- Agentic code reviews with Bugbot
- Cloud agents and automations with shared team context
- Usage analytics and team-wide privacy mode
- SAML/OIDC SSO

### Enterprise — Custom
- Everything on Teams, plus pooled usage, invoice/PO billing, SCIM seat management, repository/model/MCP access controls, audit logs, and priority support

## Getting Started

### Step 1: Download and Install
1. Visit [cursor.com](https://cursor.com)
2. Download Cursor for your operating system
3. Install the application
4. Launch Cursor

### Step 2: Import Your Settings
1. Import your VS Code extensions, themes, and keybindings
2. Configure your preferred settings
3. Set up your development environment

### Step 3: Start Coding
1. Open a project or create a new one
2. Start typing code and see AI suggestions
3. Use Tab to accept completions
4. Use Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux) for natural language editing
5. Use Cmd+L (Ctrl+L on Windows/Linux) for AI chat

### Step 4: Customize AI Behavior
- **Model Selection**: Choose between different AI models
- **Privacy Settings**: Configure Privacy Mode if needed
- **Completion Settings**: Adjust when and how suggestions appear
- **Chat Preferences**: Customize AI chat behavior

### Best Practices
- **Write Clear Comments**: Use descriptive comments to get better suggestions
- **Provide Context**: Include relevant imports and function signatures
- **Review Suggestions**: Always review AI-generated code before accepting
- **Use Natural Language**: Leverage natural language editing for complex changes
- **Iterative Development**: Use chat for step-by-step problem solving
- **Privacy Awareness**: Enable Privacy Mode for sensitive projects
- **Model Selection**: Choose the right model for your specific task

## Limitations

- **Internet Dependency**: Requires internet connection for AI features
- **Learning Curve**: Takes time to learn effective prompting techniques
- **Cost**: Subscription required for full features
- **Privacy Concerns**: Code may be sent to servers (unless Privacy Mode enabled)
- **Accuracy**: AI suggestions may not always be correct or optimal
- **Context Limits**: May not always understand complex project architectures
- **Performance**: May slow down on very large codebases

## Alternatives

- **[Windsurf](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/windsurf)** - The first agentic IDE, featuring Flow state tracking
- **[Claude Code](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/claude-code)** - Anthropic's native CLI agentic coding tool
- **[Cline](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/cline)** - Leading open-source autonomous agent for VS Code
- **[Aider](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/aider)** - Premier CLI-based AI pair programmer
- **[GitHub Copilot](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/github-copilot)** - AI coding assistant with IDE integration
- **[Replit AI](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/replit-ai)** - AI coding assistant in online IDE

## Community & Support

- **Documentation**: [docs.cursor.com](https://docs.cursor.com)
- **Community Forum**: [forum.cursor.com](https://forum.cursor.com) for discussions and support
- **Discord**: [Community server](https://discord.gg/cursor) for real-time help
- **Twitter**: [@cursor_ai](https://twitter.com/cursor_ai) for updates
- **GitHub**: [Open-source components](https://github.com/getcursor) and examples

## What Developers Say

> "Cursor is at least a 2x improvement over Copilot. It's amazing having an AI pair programmer, and is an incredible accelerator for me and my team." - Ben Bernard, Instacart

> "The Cursor tab completion while coding is occasionally so magic it defies reality - about ~25% of the time it is anticipating exactly what I want to do." - Kevin Whinnery, OpenAI

> "Cursor is hands down my biggest workflow improvement in years" - Sawyer Hood, Figma

> "Cursor is the best AI developer tool right now, avoid it at your own peril" - Logan Kilpatrick, Google

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Did SpaceX buy Cursor?

Yes. SpaceX announced the agreement to acquire Anysphere, Cursor's maker, on June 16, 2026, in a 60 billion dollar all-stock transaction, and closed it in mid-August 2026 after regulatory clearance. It is the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup on record.

### Who owns Cursor today?

SpaceX. Anysphere now sits inside the SpaceXAI unit, alongside xAI and the Grok models. Cursor kept its name, its plans and its multi-vendor model list through the close.

### What models does Cursor use?

Cursor's own Composer 2.5 and the jointly trained Grok 4.6 are included on every paid plan. Other vendors' frontier models — Claude Fable 5.1, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, the GPT-5.6 tiers and Gemini 3.8 Flash — need Pro or higher. GPT-6 Astra is not on Cursor's list.

### Did Moonshot retiring Kimi K2.5 break Composer 2.5?

No. Composer 2.5 was post-trained from Moonshot's open-source Kimi K2.5 checkpoint, but Cursor serves its own weights and never called Moonshot's API. Moonshot retired the kimi-k2.5 and moonshot-v1 endpoints on August 31, 2026 and Composer 2.5 runs unchanged; you just can no longer call the base checkpoint at Moonshot to compare against it.

## Related

### Related tools

- [GitHub Copilot](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/github-copilot)
- [Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/windsurf)
- [Claude Code](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/claude-code)
- [Replit AI](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/replit-ai)
- [Devin](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/devin)
- [Lovable](https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/lovable)

---

Source: https://howaiworks.ai/ai-tools/cursor — HowAIWorks.ai