VS Code + GitHub Copilot: The default starting point. While the autocomplete is decent, it lacks project-wide understanding and forcing you to constant copy-paste code back and forth between a sidebar and your active file is a major productivity bottleneck. Zed: Super fast and lightweight, but the AI features feel more like a basic wrapper compared to Cursor's agentic tools. The extension ecosystem is also not quite as mature yet. JetBrains IDEs + AI Assistant: Good for large-scale enterprise refactoring, but feels bloated, heavy, and the AI integration is less intuitive and takes longer to generate multi-file edits. Pro-Tips for Getting the Most Out of Cursor Use .cursorrules: Create a .cursorrules file in the root of your project. Define your exact coding style, preferred libraries, and architecture rules so the AI follows them automatically on every generation. Leverage @docs: If you're working with a newer library whose API has changed since the model’s training cutoff, type @docs and paste the documentation URL. Cursor will read the live web pages to write accurate code. Composer for Multi-File Refactoring: Don't just use Cmd+K for single files. Use Cmd+I (Composer) to orchestrate changes across your backend, frontend, and tests simultaneously. Keyboard-Only Review: When reviewing inline edits, use Cmd+Shift+Y (Accept) and Cmd+Shift+N (Reject) to quickly review changes without touching your mouse.