Cursor IDE Tips and Tricks: Power User Workflows for 2026

Cursor just crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. That's not hype -- that's a VS Code fork with AI baked so deep into the editor that people are willing to pay $20/month for what used to be free. And here's the thing: most Cursor users are barely scratching the surface. They open Composer, type a prompt, accept the diff, and call it a day.

You're leaving at least 3x productivity on the table. Cursor ships with Tab predictions that auto-import symbols, an agent mode that runs terminal commands autonomously, project rules that eliminate repetitive prompting, background agents that work while you're in a meeting, and a plugin marketplace that launched two weeks ago. This guide covers the workflows that separate casual users from power users.

📋 What You'll Need

• Cursor IDE installed -- download from cursor.com (available on macOS, Windows, Linux)
• A Cursor Pro subscription -- $20/month gets you unlimited completions and 500 fast premium requests. The free tier works for experimenting, but you'll hit limits fast.
• A real project to work on -- Cursor shines on codebases with multiple files. A single-file script won't show you what it can do.
• Familiarity with VS Code -- Cursor is a fork, so keybindings, extensions, and settings carry over. If you know VS Code, you're 80% there.
• 10 minutes to configure rules -- the single highest-ROI setup step most people skip

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts That Actually Matter

You don't need to memorize 150 shortcuts. You need to memorize about 12, and let muscle memory handle the rest. Here are the ones that separate power users from everyone else.

The Core Five

Diff Review Shortcuts

When Composer proposes changes, you're looking at diffs. These shortcuts speed up review:

Chat Context Shortcuts

The @ symbol in Chat and Composer is how you feed context to the AI. This is arguably more important than any keyboard shortcut.

@file — reference a specific file
@folder — include an entire directory
@codebase — search the full indexed repository
@web — pull in live web results
@docs — reference documentation you've added
@git — include recent git history or diffs
@definitions — reference symbol definitions

Here's a real example. Instead of typing "refactor the auth middleware," you'd type:

@file src/middleware/auth.ts @file src/types/user.ts
Refactor the auth middleware to use the new UserRole enum
from the types file. Update all role checks.

That @file reference gives Cursor the exact context it needs instead of making it guess.

🤖 Mastering Composer and Agent Mode

Chat (Cmd+L) answers questions. Composer (Cmd+I) takes action. Agent mode (Cmd+Shift+I or click the dropdown in Composer) goes autonomous. Understanding when to use each is the biggest unlock.

Chat vs Composer vs Agent: When to Use What

The Agent Mode Workflow

Agent mode in Cursor 2.5 (released February 2026) is genuinely different from standard Composer. When you give it a task, it:

1. Reads your codebase to understand the project structure
2. Creates a plan with specific files to modify
3. Edits files across your project
4. Runs terminal commands (with your confirmation, or automatically in YOLO mode)
5. Checks the output and iterates if something breaks
6. Spawns sub-agents for complex parallel tasks

Here's how to prompt agent mode effectively:

Build a REST API endpoint for user preferences.
- Add a new route at POST /api/preferences
- Create a Prisma model for UserPreference with fields:
  userId, theme, language, notifications (boolean)
- Add input validation with Zod
- Write integration tests using Vitest
- Run the tests and fix any failures

That last line is key. Telling the agent to "run the tests and fix any failures" turns it into a feedback loop. It'll run npm test, read the output, fix the code, and run again until tests pass.

YOLO Mode: Living Dangerously (and Efficiently)

YOLO mode lets the agent run terminal commands without asking for confirmation each time. Enable it in Settings → Cursor → Features → YOLO mode.

// .cursor/settings.json
{
  "cursor.yolo.enabled": true,
  "cursor.yolo.allowedCommands": [
    "npm test",
    "npm run lint",
    "npx prisma generate",
    "python -m pytest"
  ]
}

You can whitelist specific commands so the agent runs tests and linters automatically but still asks before doing anything destructive like rm or git push.

Plan Mode: Think Before Acting

Cursor 2.5 added Plan Mode -- type your prompt and select "Plan" instead of "Agent." The AI crawls your project, reads rules and docs, asks clarifying questions, then generates an editable Markdown plan with file paths, code references, and a to-do list. You review and edit the plan before the agent executes it.

This is the workflow for anything non-trivial:

┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐
│  Prompt   │────►│   Plan   │────►│  Review  │────►│  Execute │
│  (you)    │     │  (AI)    │     │  (you)   │     │  (agent) │
└──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘

For large features, this prevents the agent from going off the rails. You catch architectural mistakes in the plan phase instead of after the agent has rewritten 15 files.

📏 Project Rules: The Highest-ROI Setup Step

If you do one thing after reading this article, set up project rules. They're the difference between an AI that writes generic code and one that writes code that looks like your team wrote it.

The Evolution: .cursorrules to .mdc Files

The old .cursorrules file at your project root still works, but it's deprecated. The modern approach uses .cursor/rules/ with .mdc (Markdown Configuration) files:

your-project/
├── .cursor/
│   └── rules/
│       ├── general.mdc
│       ├── typescript.mdc
│       ├── testing.mdc
│       └── api-patterns.mdc
├── src/
└── package.json

Each .mdc file can be scoped to specific file patterns, included automatically or triggered manually. Here's a real-world example:

---
description: TypeScript coding standards for this project
globs: ["**/*.ts", "**/*.tsx"]
alwaysApply: true
---

# TypeScript Rules

- Use `type` over `interface` unless extending is required
- Prefer `const` assertions for literal types
- All functions must have explicit return types
- Use barrel exports (index.ts) for public module APIs
- Error handling: use Result<T, E> pattern, not try/catch for business logic
- Naming: camelCase for variables/functions, PascalCase for types/components
- No `any` type. Use `unknown` and narrow with type guards.

And a testing rule:

---
description: Testing patterns and conventions
globs: ["**/*.test.ts", "**/*.spec.ts"]
alwaysApply: true
---

# Testing Rules

- Use Vitest, not Jest
- Each test file mirrors the source file path: src/utils/auth.ts → src/utils/auth.test.ts
- Use `describe` blocks grouped by method/function
- Test names follow: "should [expected behavior] when [condition]"
- Mock external services, never mock internal modules
- Minimum 3 test cases per function: happy path, edge case, error case

Why Rules Beat Repeated Prompting

Without rules, you end up typing the same context every time:

"Use Vitest not Jest. Follow our naming conventions.
Don't use any types. Use the Result pattern for errors..."

With rules, the agent reads these automatically before every task. The improvement in output quality is immediate and compounding -- every task benefits, not just the one you remembered to prompt carefully.

Custom Slash Commands

Define reusable commands in your rules to standardize team workflows:

---
description: Custom commands for the team
alwaysApply: false
---

# Custom Commands

## /plan
Generate an implementation plan for the described feature.
Include file paths, dependencies, and a step-by-step to-do list.
Do not write any code yet.

## /refactor
Refactor the selected code following our style guide.
Run linting after changes. Fix any issues.

## /test
Generate a test suite for the current file.
Follow our testing rules. Run tests and fix failures.

## /review
Review the current file against our rules.
List violations as bullet points with line numbers and fixes.

🔌 Tab Completion: The Silent Productivity Multiplier

Cursor's Tab completion runs on a separate, fast model optimized specifically for code prediction. It's not the same model as Chat or Composer -- it's lighter and designed for sub-100ms response times. Most developers accept Tab suggestions passively without understanding how to get better ones.

How Tab Prediction Actually Works

Tab doesn't just look at the current line. It analyzes:

• Your recent edits -- if you just renamed a variable in one file, it predicts the same rename in related files
• Open file context -- files in your editor tabs influence predictions
• Project-wide patterns -- after indexing, Tab understands your codebase conventions
• Cursor position and intent -- it knows whether you're writing a function body, an import, or a comment

Getting Better Tab Suggestions

Keep related files open. Tab's context window includes your open tabs. If you're working on a controller, open the corresponding model, service, and test files. The predictions improve dramatically.

Accept partial suggestions. Press Cmd+Right Arrow to accept word-by-word instead of the full suggestion. This is useful when Tab gets the first part right but the ending wrong.

Multi-line completions. Tab can suggest entire function bodies, loop constructs, and boilerplate blocks. When you see a multi-line ghost suggestion, press Tab to accept all of it, or Escape to dismiss.

Auto-imports. For TypeScript and Python, Tab auto-imports symbols it suggests. If it suggests a function from another module, accepting the suggestion also adds the import statement at the top of your file. No more manually adding imports.

// You type:
const user = await getUser

// Tab suggests (with auto-import):
const user = await getUserById(req.params.id);
// + adds: import { getUserById } from '../services/userService';

🔧 MCP Plugins and the Cursor Marketplace

Cursor 2.5 (February 17, 2026) launched the Plugin Marketplace -- prebuilt packages that bundle MCP servers, skills, subagents, hooks, and rules. This is Cursor's answer to VS Code extensions, but for AI capabilities instead of editor features.

What MCP Actually Is

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI models connect to external tools and data sources. In Cursor, MCP plugins give the agent abilities beyond reading and writing code. Think of each plugin as giving the agent a new superpower.

Notable Launch Partners

Setting Up MCP

MCP configuration lives in .cursor/mcp.json at your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/project"]
    },
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    },
    "postgres": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb"
      }
    }
  }
}

With this setup, you can tell the agent things like:

Check the GitHub issues labeled "bug" and create a fix
for the most recent one. Verify the fix against the
PostgreSQL database schema.

The agent uses the GitHub MCP to read issues and the Postgres MCP to query your schema -- all within a single Composer session.

Background Agents

Background agents (available on Pro+ and Ultra plans) run tasks on cloud VMs while you continue working locally. They're ideal for:

• Running a full test suite and fixing failures across 50+ test files
• Large-scale refactoring (rename a pattern across hundreds of files)
• Generating documentation for an undocumented codebase
• Implementing a feature plan while you work on something else

Spawn a background agent from Composer by clicking the cloud icon or using the command palette: Cursor: Run in Background.

In version 2.5, background agents can spawn sub-agents that run in parallel. A refactoring task that took 20 minutes with a single agent can finish in 5 minutes with four sub-agents working on different parts of the codebase simultaneously.

⚡ Cursor vs VS Code: What You Gain and What You Lose

Cursor is a fork of VS Code, which means you get almost everything VS Code offers plus AI features on top. But "almost" is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence.

What You Gain

What You Lose (or Risk)

The Migration Path

If you're on VS Code, migrating is painless:

# Cursor imports VS Code settings automatically on first launch.
# To manually sync:
# 1. Export VS Code settings
code --list-extensions > vscode-extensions.txt

# 2. Install in Cursor
cat vscode-extensions.txt | xargs -L 1 cursor --install-extension

Your keybindings, themes, and most extensions transfer directly. The main adjustment is learning the AI-specific shortcuts (Cmd+I, Cmd+L, Cmd+K) and configuring project rules.

💰 Pricing: What You'll Actually Pay

Cursor's pricing changed in mid-2025 from request-based to credit-based billing. Here's what that means in practice.

The Credit Trap

"500 fast premium requests" sounds like a lot until you understand how credits work. Different models burn credits at different rates:

An agent mode session that makes 10 iterations costs 10 requests minimum. If you're using Opus for complex reasoning, that's 30-50 credits for a single task. Heavy users on Pro burn through their allocation in 1-2 weeks.

The fix: Use Cursor's built-in model or Sonnet for routine completions and simple edits. Save Opus and GPT-5.2 for complex multi-file tasks. The model selector in Composer's bottom-right corner lets you switch models per conversation.

🔧 Troubleshooting Common Issues

"Tab suggestions are slow or not appearing."
Open Settings → Cursor → Tab and ensure "Enable Cursor Tab" is on. If suggestions are slow, check your internet connection -- Tab predictions require a round trip to Cursor's servers. On unstable connections, there's a noticeable lag. Disable other AI extensions (Copilot, Tabnine) that might conflict.

"Composer doesn't understand my project structure."
Run the codebase indexer: Command Palette → "Cursor: Reindex Codebase." This rebuilds the semantic index. For large projects (100K+ lines), indexing takes 2-5 minutes. Until it completes, Composer relies on the files you explicitly reference with @file.

"Agent mode keeps hallucinating file paths."
This usually means the agent is working from stale context. Use @folder src/ to explicitly ground it in the correct directory. Also check that your .cursor/rules/ files include the correct project structure description.

"MCP plugins aren't loading."
Verify your .cursor/mcp.json is valid JSON (trailing commas break it). Check that the MCP server commands are installed -- run the npx command manually in your terminal to see if it works outside Cursor. Also confirm the tool count is under the 40-tool limit.

"I'm burning through credits too fast."
Switch to Cursor's built-in model for routine completions (it's free and fast). Reserve premium models for Composer and Agent tasks. Track your usage in Settings → Billing → Usage Dashboard. Consider downgrading complex-but-non-urgent tasks to "slow" requests, which don't count against your fast premium allocation.

🚀 What's Next

• ⚡ Set up project rules today. Create a .cursor/rules/ directory with one .mdc file covering your coding standards. You'll see the quality improvement immediately.
• 🔌 Try one MCP plugin. Start with the GitHub or filesystem plugin. Once you see the agent pulling context from external tools, you'll understand why MCP matters.
• 📊 Monitor your credit usage for a week. Before upgrading to Pro+ or Ultra, understand your actual consumption pattern. Most developers find Pro sufficient with smart model selection.
• 🧪 Use Plan Mode for your next feature. Instead of jumping straight to Agent mode, generate a plan first. Review it, edit it, then execute. The quality difference is significant.
• 📖 Read our AI Coding Agents Compared to understand how Cursor stacks up against Copilot, Claude Code, and Windsurf across different workflows.

For a deep dive into terminal-based AI development as a complement to Cursor, check out Claude Code Workflow Guide and GitHub Copilot Agent Mode Guide.