Cursor is a code editor — the thing you open to write, read, and edit code. What makes it different from every other code editor is that it has AI built in at every level. You can ask it questions, describe what you want to build, and have it write or change code for you, in context, without copy-pasting from a chat window.
If you've never opened a code editor before, it can feel disorienting at first. This guide walks you through exactly what you're looking at and how to get something done in your first session.
Step 1: Download and install Cursor
1
Go to cursor.com and download Cursor
It's available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The free plan is enough to start. Download and open the installer.
2
Sign in with GitHub or Google
On first launch, Cursor will ask you to sign in. Use GitHub or Google — whichever you have. If you don't have either, create a free GitHub account first. You'll need it anyway for deploying projects.
3
Open a project folder
Click Open Folder (or File → Open Folder on Windows) and navigate to the folder that contains your project. If you don't have a project yet, create a new empty folder anywhere on your computer and open that.
Cursor always works at the folder level — not individual files. The folder you open is your workspace.
Step 2: Understand what you're looking at
When you open a folder in Cursor, you'll see three main areas:
1
The file tree (left sidebar)
This shows all the files and folders in your project. Click any file to open it in the editor. This is how you navigate your project — not by opening files one at a time from Finder, but by keeping them all visible in one panel.
2
The editor (center)
This is where your files open when you click them. You can have multiple files open in tabs, like a browser. The code or text in the file lives here. You can edit it directly, or let Cursor edit it for you.
3
The AI chat panel (right side or bottom)
This is where you talk to Cursor. Open it with Cmd+L (Mac) or Ctrl+L (Windows). Ask questions about your code, ask it to build something, ask it to explain what a file does — the AI has full context about everything in your project folder.
Step 3: The three modes — know which to use
Cursor has three main ways to interact with the AI. Using the right one for the right task saves a lot of confusion.
Autocomplete as you type
As you type in the editor, Cursor predicts what comes next and shows a greyed-out suggestion. Press Tab to accept it. This is the passive mode — you're writing, it's assisting. Great for filling in boilerplate, completing a pattern you started, or writing repetitive code.
Ask questions, get explanations
Opens the AI chat panel. Use this to ask what a piece of code does, debug an error, understand how something works, or get suggestions without immediately changing your file. The AI can see your open files and your whole project. It will write code in the chat — you can then copy it in, or tell it to apply the change.
Build features, change multiple files
This is the most powerful mode. Describe what you want to build — in plain language — and Cursor will make the changes across as many files as needed. It shows you exactly what it changed (a diff view) before applying anything. You review and accept or reject each change. Use this for anything that touches more than one file, or any time you want Cursor to do a meaningful chunk of work.
Which to use as a beginner: Start with Chat (Cmd+L) for understanding, and Composer (Cmd+I) for building. Tab autocomplete kicks in automatically — just let it happen and press Tab when the suggestion looks right.
Step 4: Your first real task
Here's the pattern that works for almost every task when you're new to this.
1
Open Composer (Cmd+I)
This is your main building mode. Start here when you want Cursor to create or change something in your project.
2
Describe what you want — specifically
The more specific you are, the better the output. The same principles from writing good prompts apply here.
Add a contact form to my site.
Add a contact form to index.html. The form should have
three fields: name, email, and message. Add a Submit button.
Style it to match the navy and white color scheme already
used on the page. Don't add any backend logic — just the HTML
and CSS for the form itself.
3
Review the diff before accepting
Cursor shows you exactly what it wants to change — green lines are additions, red lines are removals. Read through it before clicking Accept. You don't need to understand every line, but you should understand what was added and what was removed at a high level.
4
Accept, then check the result
Click Accept All. Then open your file (or refresh your browser if you're previewing a website) and see if the change looks right. If it doesn't — describe what's wrong in plain English and ask Cursor to fix it.
Common mistakes beginners make
1
Accepting changes without reading them
Cursor sometimes removes code it thinks is redundant — but that code may have been doing something important. Get in the habit of scrolling through the diff, even quickly, before you accept.
2
Describing what you want without saying what you don't want
If you ask Cursor to add a feature, it may restructure surrounding code in ways you didn't expect. Adding "don't change anything else" or "only touch this specific section" often prevents unexpected side effects.
3
Not committing before making big changes
Before you ask Cursor to make a significant change, commit your current state with git. That way, if something goes wrong, you can always get back to where you were.
git add -p
git commit -m "Working state before refactor"
4
Trying to understand every line
You don't need to. You need to understand what the code does and whether it did what you asked. Reading code at that level comes with time. For now, focus on the behavior, not the implementation.
One keyboard shortcut to memorize: Ctrl+` (backtick) opens the integrated terminal. This is where you run git commands, install packages, and start dev servers — all without leaving Cursor.
Cursor is the primary coding environment in MakerSquare's 2-week program. Every student uses it from Day 1 to build their actual project — with a real database, real users, real deployment.