Cursor Best Practices

Best practices for working with Cursor to maximize productivity and code quality.

Core Principles

• Start with plans – Use Plan Mode (Shift+Tab) for complex tasks
• Manage context effectively – Let agent find context, start new conversations when needed
• Extend the agent – Use Rules for static context, Skills for dynamic capabilities
• Review carefully – AI-generated code needs review like human code

Key Workflows

• Test-driven development – Write tests first, iterate until passing
• Codebase understanding – Use agent to explore and learn codebases
• Git workflows – Automate common git operations with commands
• Parallel agents – Run multiple agents simultaneously for comparison

References

For detailed guidance, see:

• references/planning.md – Plan mode and starting with plans
• references/context.md – Managing context and conversations
• references/extending.md – Rules vs Skills, extending agent
• references/workflows.md – TDD, codebase understanding, git workflows
• references/reviewing.md – Code review strategies
• references/parallel-agents.md – Running agents in parallel