cursor-guide

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title: Home
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# Cursor IDE: Complete Technical Guide

**Master Cursor IDE for maximum productivity**  
**Target Audience:** Senior developers, tech leads, engineering teams  
**Maintainer**: Viachaslau Kudzinau 
([email protected])  
**Last Updated:** January 2026

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## 🎯 What You'll Master

This comprehensive guide teaches you to leverage **Cursor IDE** for:

- ✅ **Tab autocomplete** - Fast, predictive code completion (320ms)
- ✅ **Inline Edit (Cmd+K)** - Surgical, focused changes
- ✅ **Composer/Agent (Cmd+I)** - Multi-file orchestration
- ✅ **Rules** - Always-on constraints and guardrails (`.cursor/rules/*.md`)
- ✅ **Skills** - Optional reusable workflows (`.cursor/skills/`)
- ✅ **Hooks** - Lifecycle control for autonomous iteration (`.cursor/hooks.json`)
- ✅ **Debug Mode** - Hypothesis-driven debugging
- ✅ **Parallel Agents** - Explore multiple solutions simultaneously
- ✅ **Visual Editor** - Real-time UI styling and design
- ✅ **MCP Integration** - Connect to external systems (Slack, GitHub, databases)
- ✅ **Context7** - Live, version-specific library documentation (MCP tool)
- ✅ **Multiple AI models** - Cursor 4.5, GPT-5, Cursor 3, Cursor Composer
- ✅ **Enterprise patterns** - Team collaboration and deployment

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## 🚀 Get Your First Win in 5 Minutes

### 1. Auto-Complete with Tab
```typescript
// Just start typing and press Tab
function calculateMonthlyPayment(principal, rate, years) {
  // Tab suggests the entire implementation
}
```

### 2. Inline Edit with Cmd+K
```
Select a function
Press Cmd+K (Windows: Ctrl+K)
"Refactor this function to use async/await and add error handling"
```

### 3. Multi-File Feature with Composer
```
Press Cmd+I (Windows: Ctrl+I)
"@codebase Add authentication to the entire application"
```

### 4. Debug with Debug Mode
```
"This function returns undefined intermittently. Debug and fix it."
Agent instruments code, analyzes logs, proposes fix
```

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## 📚 Guide Structure

### [Part 1: Fundame