[HN Gopher] Cursor hits $9B valuation
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Cursor hits $9B valuation
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 69 points
       Date   : 2025-05-05 14:26 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ft.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ft.com)
        
       | bookofjoe wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/yQlLu
        
       | hhghkj wrote:
       | Quite a valuation for a VSCode fork. They have no moat.
        
         | raffraffraff wrote:
         | It's a rented castle, too.
        
           | enlightens wrote:
           | Indeed.
           | 
           | "DID YOU JUST BAN CURSOR?"
           | https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-dotnettools/issues/1909
           | 
           | > The error seems very clear to me. Dev Kit is licensed only
           | for use with VS Code, Cursor is not VS Code, ergo it is not
           | licensed to use it.
           | 
           | >
           | 
           | > Not to mention that only VS Code can use the official
           | plugin registry in the first place. Everything working as
           | intended.
        
             | Keyframe wrote:
             | Ah, good old Microsoft.
        
             | rvz wrote:
             | Exactly. From: [0]
             | 
             | >> I know it works as intended. Just curios why Microsoft
             | decided to enforce this all of a sudden.
             | 
             | Because they can. Also...
             | 
             | >> Did GitHub Copilot just give up on playing fair with
             | Cursor, admitting it's winning?
             | 
             | The game wasn't 'fair' to begin with and it was rigged for
             | Microsoft to win anyway. (Cursor being based on VS Code).
             | 
             | If you're competing against Microsoft, expect them to race
             | you to zero for years (extinguish) at close to no cost for
             | them.
             | 
             | It is all for Cursor to lose if they continue as they are
             | and competitors like Microsoft catch up (and they will do
             | so very quickly whilst lowering prices).
             | 
             | [0] https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-
             | dotnettools/issues/1909#...
        
           | UncleOxidant wrote:
           | More like a squatted castle.
        
         | wordpad wrote:
         | Their user base is the moat. Same as any network effect
         | business.
         | 
         | If all your peers are using a thing, it's really hard to
         | convince entire industry to switch even if something better is
         | available.
        
           | PUSH_AX wrote:
           | That's not a moat when it comes to tooling like this, I can
           | and will cancel my sub when I try something objectively
           | better, there is zero lock in, even if I make a poor choice I
           | can come back.
           | 
           | This is not a moat, the fact there are a bunch of companies
           | hot on their heels proves this too.
        
           | madeofpalk wrote:
           | I don't think user base is a moat, at least not for tooling
           | like this. Switching costs is practically zero, as evidence
           | by how quickly Cursor came up and ate Copilot's lunch.
           | Presumably all of Cursor's users switched away from VS Code
           | or another editor. How did that moat go for them?
        
           | Lalabadie wrote:
           | Early adopters are the most fickle version of a user moat I
           | can imagine.
        
           | notfromhere wrote:
           | We're talking about an IDE, switching is pretty frictionless.
        
             | solarkraft wrote:
             | Well, switching IDEs can actually be hard due to all the
             | integrations. But this is VScode to VSCode ...
        
           | wrs wrote:
           | Network effect? What network?
        
         | kcatskcolbdi wrote:
         | I want to agree, but whatever they are doing is working
         | incredibly well so far. The results I get from cursor outweigh
         | what I can get from Copilot by orders of magnitude. Maybe long
         | term there's no moat, but you'd think if there were no moat now
         | the folks at Microsoft would be able to compete.
        
           | 0x500x79 wrote:
           | This is something that I think Copilot is working on fixing
           | actively. I think that they were focused on Agent mode
           | previously, so put less effort into the autocomplete
           | functionality but they are hearing more and more that this is
           | somewhere they need to focus.
        
         | owendarko wrote:
         | There are already VS Code extensions (Cline, Roo Code and Kilo
         | Code) that do the same + are much better IMO.
         | 
         | Disclaimer: I'm one of the maintainers of Kilo.
        
       | CyberMacGyver wrote:
       | Didn't they reject $20B from OpenAI? This seems like a 50%
       | haircut.
        
       | moduspol wrote:
       | I mean... it's a little disingenuous to call it a "vibe coding"
       | app.
        
         | be_erik wrote:
         | It's how a lot of code is being generated by owners of small
         | startups with minimal engineering engagement. PMs are producing
         | full walking skeletons of designs that used to take a week to
         | polish to that fidelity.
        
           | moduspol wrote:
           | Sure--but it's also the most widely used IDE for integrated
           | AI assistance to normal software engineers. It's a "vibe
           | coding" app in the same way that a washing machine is a "sock
           | cleaning machine." I mean, yes, it does that, but that's a
           | small part of its designed and in-practice usage.
        
             | fkyoureadthedoc wrote:
             | > but it's also the most widely used IDE for integrated AI
             | assistance to normal software engineers.
             | 
             | Is it? I'd be surprised if GitHub Copilot didn't have more
             | paid users.
        
       | zknowledge wrote:
       | Wow, AI 'vibe coding' app? What a reductive statement on what
       | Cursor is.
        
         | bluefirebrand wrote:
         | Seems about right to me
         | 
         | Are you sure you don't have a very inflated idea about what
         | Cursor is?
        
           | PUSH_AX wrote:
           | This is like saying cars are for doing skids and speeding
           | illegally, then telling the person who drives for a living if
           | they "don't have a very inflated idea about what a car is".
           | 
           | Vibe coding is letting the AI take the wheel for every
           | decision, not verifying output, progress above all. Of course
           | it's possible to use it in a more subtle collaborative
           | capacity with heavy oversight.
        
           | zknowledge wrote:
           | I doubt it. Cursor is an IDE with an ai co-pilot deeply
           | integrated into it. They've literally changed the paradigm of
           | software development by making ai-assisted coding feasible.
           | The vibe-coding mention is reductive imo.
           | 
           | Another way of looking at it: Maker of "pricey electronic
           | typewriter", Apple hits $9B valuation (FT 1984)
           | 
           | pretty reductive
        
             | lostmsu wrote:
             | Are they different from Copilot though?
             | 
             | I mean I tried C# integration and Cursor does not even fix
             | all compilation errors before reporting it has "completed
             | the task". Feels like that's the most basic integration you
             | can have beyond reviewing diffs.
        
               | zknowledge wrote:
               | That's a fair question and point. I'm not die-hard Cursor
               | fan. Use what works best for you, but I'm just more so
               | commenting that the vibe-coding part totally minimizes
               | what the offering is.
        
       | Zealotux wrote:
       | I use both and I'm amazed at how poor the VSCode proposal is
       | compared to Cursor.
        
       | bethekidyouwant wrote:
       | 9B, no moat, it's bubble time!
        
         | url00 wrote:
         | On the off chance there was any doubt still... Alas, seeing a
         | bubble provides almost no good information except that you know
         | something bad will happen sometime.
        
           | spacemadness wrote:
           | That sometime will be when reality sinks in regarding
           | revenue, but by then some of the original investors have made
           | their money and split.
        
         | riku_iki wrote:
         | they have userbase, revenue, super-fast growth, leading market
         | position and capable team.
        
           | disgruntledphd2 wrote:
           | Yup, but good unit economics are what matters in the long
           | run.
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | Except that there is one problem and that is Microsoft GitHub
           | who has a much more massive platform (220m+ users),
           | distribution and ecosystem lock-in which Cursor does not
           | have.
           | 
           | Things can change _very quickly_ in 6 - 12 months.
        
             | riku_iki wrote:
             | there is no lock in on github, since communication happens
             | through git protocol, so no external tool/client can be
             | locked out.
        
               | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
               | Yeah, good things companies only use the bare-bones git
               | functionality of GitHub /s. Forget things like GitHub
               | Actions, Issues, Projects, complicated security settings,
               | etc. etc.
               | 
               | I've been at a company that migrated from GitHub to
               | GitLab and it was a substantial undertaking, and the
               | company was a very small new startup - it would have been
               | many orders of magnitude more difficult for a larger
               | company with multiple dev teams to move.
        
               | riku_iki wrote:
               | I am looking from perspective of vibe coding task for
               | some regular dev. If he has access to github from his
               | current IDE, nothing prevents Cursor from having the same
               | level of access.
        
       | karel-3d wrote:
       | it's vscode with chatgpt
        
       | danenania wrote:
       | If you're using Cursor (as I do), but find it tends to struggle
       | once your project reaches a certain size, and you're ok with
       | something CLI-based, you might find the open source CLI coding
       | agent I've built interesting: https://github.com/plandex-
       | ai/plandex
       | 
       | - It can handle up to 2M tokens of context directly, and can
       | index/work with/chat with projects up to 20M tokens (1M+ lines).
       | Here's an example of chatting with with SQLite codebase to learn
       | about how transactions are implemented:
       | https://plandex.ai/_next/static/media/plandex-sqlite.0ee6cb2...
       | 
       | - All changes are committed to a version-controlled sandbox by
       | default, preventing the problem of stray changes that you don't
       | notice being left behind in the project.
       | 
       | - Being terminal-based allows for more seamless and powerful
       | execution control and automated debugging. Here's an example of
       | automatically debugging a browser app (via redirection of console
       | logs/errors to the terminal):
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_76U_nK0Y&embeds_referring...
        
         | colesantiago wrote:
         | I see too much self promotion over this tool all over HN and it
         | is not anywhere near the same as Cursor?
         | 
         | I don't see any similarities other than it uses AI and that is
         | about it.
        
           | danenania wrote:
           | If you don't see any similarities, I'm not really sure what
           | to say. I built it specifically to improve the workflow of
           | what has come to be labelled 'vibe coding', and I believe
           | it's more effective for this purpose than Cursor... though I
           | find that Cursor is excellent for IDE auto-completion.
           | 
           | It's MIT-licensed and can be used for free, so yes I do
           | mention it when relevant conversations come up, because I
           | think can be useful to people, and I think that is well
           | within the spirit of HN, which is supposed to be a maker
           | community. Since I'm an HN addict, I read/post a lot, and so
           | I notice when these topics come up.
        
         | kristopolous wrote:
         | I've used it. Honestly it's the same place as goose and aider
         | ... it tries to DIY its own solutions too often as opposed to
         | using existing robust libraries, writes inflexible code where
         | simple piped commands would do, and basically Katamari Damacies
         | the problem into a complicated sprawl that doesn't work.
        
           | danenania wrote:
           | Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.
           | 
           | I think the reason you tend to see these same kinds of
           | problems across tools is that you are running up against the
           | reasoning limitations of the underlying models. I see my goal
           | as trying to push that horizon out as far possible, and I
           | think Plandex pushes it significantly farther than most other
           | tools, but you do of course still run into those limitations.
           | 
           | That said, I think even setting aside improvements to the
           | underlying models, there's a lot of potential to improve on
           | these issues. I think they're all basically addressable at
           | current capability levels, though they are difficult
           | problems. It's what I'm personally most excited to work on.
        
             | kristopolous wrote:
             | Honestly, I think it simply becomes the wrong modality at a
             | certain level of engagement with any problem.
             | 
             | When human developing a project successfully you engage in
             | different collective behaviors throughout the process.
             | That's why the scrum/agile stuff that tries to normalize it
             | doesn't actually work very well.
             | 
             | On computers, relationships _are_ workflows and you need to
             | do a dance of fluid relationships to use AI effectively
             | throughout the execution process - otherwise that 's why
             | you either abandon it after you get to some point or you
             | feel like you're just wasting time.
        
               | danenania wrote:
               | You're right. I think the solution essentially boils down
               | to modeling those other modalities and incorporating them
               | into the agent.
        
       | tomjuggler wrote:
       | Cursor may be $9B but Aider is priceless
        
         | BeetleB wrote:
         | Yeah, this is what I don't get. How is Cursor that much better
         | than Aider? When you have a great, free, open source tool, why
         | would an investor pump money into Cursor?
        
           | moltar wrote:
           | EE monies?
        
       | Frieren wrote:
       | It may come back to be relevant "Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 -
       | The Richter Scales" but some lingo needs update (but other parts
       | are still spot on).
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I
        
         | golergka wrote:
         | I've been on HN since around 2010 (I think) and I have heard
         | "we're in a bubble and it's going to pop" this whole time.
        
           | tmpz22 wrote:
           | California just became the 4th largest economy largely due to
           | tech, and currently ranks 42nd among states in terms of job
           | growth in Q1 2025. The Pop won't be a collapse of capital
           | it'll be in continued decline for the 95% as tech oligarchs
           | continue to facilitate the transfer of wealth to the very
           | top.
           | 
           | [1]: https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/05/03/economy-jobs-
           | layoff-w...
        
           | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
           | But it (at least one of the bubbles) did pop. Tons of
           | companies who got gargantuan raises and valuations in
           | 2020/2021 are essentially in the position where they won't
           | hit those valuations again for years, if ever.
        
             | golergka wrote:
             | That must be tough for them. But everybody talking about it
             | was referring to "pop" of 2001, when most of the companies
             | didn't just hit lower valuations, they went out of
             | business.
        
           | rchaud wrote:
           | Zero-interest rate policy began in 2008 and ended in 2022.
           | Bubbles can last a long time when borrowing money has been
           | free for the VC class to throw into AI, alongside food
           | delivery, crypto, office rentals and taxicabs under the guise
           | of 'technology'.
        
       | owendarko wrote:
       | Why do we need a new IDE for "AI/vibe coding"?
       | 
       | The entire workflow for "AI coding agents" boils down to:
       | 
       | 1. You write a prompt
       | 
       | 2. The agent wraps it in a system prompt and sends it to the LLM
       | 
       | 3. The LLM sends back a response
       | 
       | 4. The agent performs specific actions based on that response
       | (editing files, creating new ones, etc.)
       | 
       | I don't see why anyone would ditch their current (non-AI) IDE for
       | Cursor just to get this functionality (especially if you're
       | getting hit with a monthly subscription fee on top of it.)
       | 
       | P.S. I maintain a VS Code extension that does the 4 steps above
       | as a baseline[1]
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/Kilo-Org/kilocode
        
         | Maxamillion96 wrote:
         | It's vibes investing to match the vibes coding
        
         | sircastor wrote:
         | I think there are 2 or 3 reasons:
         | 
         | 1) Popularity. While there are plenty of die-on-a-hill users
         | for ____ app, there are just as many people who will step away
         | to try something and find they like it. Lots of devs use
         | VScode, but its only been around for 10 years. Some people
         | still swear by Notepad++
         | 
         | 2) Demand from on-high: When the non-tech boss shows up and
         | says "Everyone use this now". I don't know how much this
         | happens, but it _does_ happen. Technical dictates from someone
         | who shouldn 't be making the decision, probably for a non-
         | technical reason.
         | 
         | 3) I hesitate to bring this one up, but here we go: People
         | don't know any better. There is a new generation of developers
         | coming up who are leaning hard into vibe coding. And just when
         | I was young, there are plenty of seasoned developers crying out
         | about it's validity. The new generation will pick their own
         | tools - in part to distance themselves from the current
         | generation.
        
         | Invictus0 wrote:
         | Why do people pay for water bottles when it comes out of the
         | sink for free? Why do people use Dropbox when you could just
         | mount a filesystem with curlftpfs? Why do people pay for
         | Docusign or Postman or Duolingo?
        
         | johnisgood wrote:
         | I'm "old school", I do these steps manually.
         | 
         | (It actually helps more, IMO).
        
         | tmpz22 wrote:
         | I've been very happy with VSCode + Gemini 2.5 (a recentish
         | integration). I will re-evaluate Cursor again but I can't
         | imagine they're going to be able to beat Microsoft to the
         | punch.
        
           | hadesarchitect wrote:
           | There is literally no need for that. Roo or Kilo (extensions
           | for VSCode) are open-source multi-agent plugins that don't
           | require a whole new IDE.
        
             | seunosewa wrote:
             | The flat monthly fee charged by Cursor is attractive to
             | many businesses and individuals.
        
         | The5thElephant wrote:
         | Honestly main reason is the UI and speed.
         | 
         | Cursor has consistently felt faster and easier to use with
         | better inline auto-complete and faster large edits in chat than
         | VSCode ever did. The way suggestions and chat is shown is just
         | a bit easier to read and more elegantly presented.
         | 
         | These things make a big difference.
        
         | smrtinsert wrote:
         | After trying a lot of them, the need for a real ide is even
         | stronger. Every single tool I've tried creates bugs, unrequired
         | code, mistakes, hallucinations. Currently playing with Junie
         | and Augment, and CoPilot holds up surprisingly well, not sure
         | why people are so eager to ditch it.
        
         | BeetleB wrote:
         | > P.S. I maintain a VS Code extension that does the 4 steps
         | above as a baseline[1]
         | 
         | Still needs an IDE!
         | 
         | Why should I use kilo instead of aider?
         | 
         | https://aider.chat/
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | This is similar to the sort of hype which happened with Clubhouse
       | app ($4B valuation, then the users stopped signing up.), Hopin
       | ($9BN until the pandemic ended) and finally Inflection AI ($4B
       | and almost no-one uses it after the initial AI hype).
       | 
       | One of biggest risks is Microsoft who can further lower prices
       | with Copilot (and they can afford to do that for years) for
       | longer and rapidly copy Cursor just like they destroyed Slack
       | with Teams.
       | 
       | There really is no lock-in case for Cursor (unless they acquire
       | something else) as users can easily cancel and switch back to VS
       | Code and Cursor can lose that ARR very quickly and the cost is
       | the entire company.
       | 
       | For Microsoft? Costs them nothing.
       | 
       | This $9B valuation is peak euphoria and this is the best time for
       | Cursor to sell as they are getting very greedy after rejecting a
       | buyout from OpenAI (twice).
        
         | johanyc wrote:
         | Well said. There are so many AI assist tools (windsurf,
         | cline/roocode, trae, etc) and it's so easy to switch between
         | them.
        
         | Jubijub wrote:
         | +1, they have no most, and we clearly see that big actors are
         | willing to run at loss to get market shares. At this point I
         | guess people are looking for an exit, and the last investors
         | will own an empty shell
        
       | akmarinov wrote:
       | Better sell fast, then enjoy life.
        
       | heymax054 wrote:
       | No need to change your IDE to AI/vibe code.
       | 
       | There are already a few good VS Code extensions like Cline and
       | Kilo Code which do 80/20 of the job.
        
         | addandsubtract wrote:
         | Even Copilot has caught up with its chat and agent editing
         | features.
        
         | ForOldHack wrote:
         | I have a paint-rapido pointed at a keywords list with JDVance
         | in a dumpster at the center.
         | 
         | Kilo is not "Vibe" coding, nor does it need to steal
         | "Intellectual" "property" at the end of it's 5 hours shift.
         | 
         | I am about done with VSCode and it's claims of usefulness. I
         | started long before the internet and PCs.
        
         | kristopolous wrote:
         | the proper timeline is
         | 
         | cline -> roo -> kilo
         | 
         | There's also things like goose, plandex, and aider.
         | 
         | The real problem is what to with all those bugs written by the
         | AI, however you choose to vibe them.
         | 
         | That's what my latest effort,
         | https://github.com/kristopolous/llmehelp is trying to address.
        
         | seattle_spring wrote:
         | Why are so many people conflating Cursor's main value
         | proposition with "vibe coding"? AI assisted development is not
         | "vibe coding", which is just a silly gimmick to churn out half-
         | assed insecure garbage quickly.
         | 
         | Edit: oh, it's because the article erroneously claims it's a
         | "vibe coding app." Yikes.
        
         | crote wrote:
         | Considering how hostile Microsoft is being to forks - even
         | benign ones like VS Codium - it's probably worth it to explore
         | switching to another IDE anyways.
        
         | odie5533 wrote:
         | Using Cursor is a lot easier than Roo Code or Cline. It has a
         | much better UI and it's faster for streaming tool uses, and I
         | believe it's cheaper.
        
       | evelant wrote:
       | Cursor isn't very good. It aggressively limits context I assume
       | to save money. Augment runs circles around it.
        
         | seunosewa wrote:
         | Which models are available on Augment right now? Which do you
         | use?
        
           | evelant wrote:
           | https://www.augmentcode.com/blog/ai-model-pickers-are-a-
           | desi...
           | 
           | Augment does not have a model picker. It uses Claude 3.7
           | right now. The context engine is the magic sauce. It's miles
           | ahead of all the other tools, almost always gets it right
           | where others fail.
        
         | eddyg wrote:
         | Do you have any relationship to/with Augment?
        
           | Larrikin wrote:
           | His only posts are promoting it
        
           | evelant wrote:
           | No I don't. I just created an account for the first time. I
           | just wanted to point out augment since nobody had mentioned
           | it and it seemed relevant. Roo code is another very good
           | alternative that's better than cursor but it requires a bit
           | more manual work to get good results. I've spent a lot of
           | time trying out all of these tools, augment is the best one
           | IMO but was also the last one I discovered. I figured sharing
           | it here might spare others the searching and frustration I
           | went through with cursor/windsurf/roo/pear/trae and so on.
        
         | lostmsu wrote:
         | Also noticed it. It often forgets recent changes then proceeds
         | to revert them without being asked to touch that part of code.
        
       | Syzygies wrote:
       | I just ended my Cursor subscription today, and upgraded from
       | Claude's Pro to Max plan to reduce my Claude Code costs. They now
       | include a healthy Claude Code allowance in the Max plans.
       | 
       | If one has already set up Claude Code with metered API use, one
       | toggles between plans using the /login command. Once to start
       | using Max, then whenever one hits a five hour rate limit and
       | wants to keep working.
       | 
       | I've tried many platforms. I kept Cursor long after Windsurf, but
       | Claude Code is a clear winner, as most people report who don't
       | bristle at the cost.
       | 
       | When Cursor or Windsurf forks VS Code, they have a reason. Their
       | chat panes always felt like periscopes; one has better control
       | over Claude Code in a terminal, and this frees up one's choice of
       | editor. I now use Sublime Text, fast and lean.
        
         | disqard wrote:
         | Signal-boosting this -- I use Claude Code too, and it's
         | beautiful: all the benefits of typing long-form thoughts,
         | ideas, strategy, combined with direct access (for the llm api)
         | to the codebase (no uploading/downloading), and Anthropic's
         | promise of not training on your inputs or outputs.
        
         | yoyohello13 wrote:
         | Claude code is actually great. I get to use any tools/editor I
         | want, and get the AI agent workflow.
        
           | disqard wrote:
           | Right, it decouples your IDE choice from the "Code Assistant"
           | choice, giving you massive flexibility.
        
         | Scene_Cast2 wrote:
         | How does this compare with using openrouter + OSS? I'm
         | currently averaging $20/month with copious usage (and no
         | limits, obviously).
        
         | andix wrote:
         | Do you also use aider? How does it compare to Claude code? The
         | concept seems to be similar, a stand-alone cli agent.
        
         | gizmodo59 wrote:
         | Codex with o3 worked much better for my projects than Claude
         | code. Plus it's open source so I can switch models easily.
        
       | 0x500x79 wrote:
       | I'm not sure that Andrej envisioned this when he tweeted out his
       | Vibe Coding take what seems like forever ago now.
       | 
       | I applaud anybody who jumps into Cursor (or other AI Assisted
       | Coding Tools) to build a new product. I think that a way to
       | express ideas is awesome, and allowing for these ideas to
       | materialize is valuable for society and users will determine what
       | is valuable/usable.
       | 
       | However, it's well documented that the expression of these tools
       | is limited. I think that the bet here is that LLMs will continue
       | to get better and better, paving the way for these tools to
       | become more valuable: which I haven't been convinced with yet.
       | 
       | At it's core you can list out the primary functionality of an AI
       | Assisted Coding platform and how these components interact. Their
       | prompts have been dumped, and the tools have been replicated,
       | plus the big LLM providers are in this space as well and
       | understand more nuances around the models and how they interact
       | with the different components.
       | 
       | $9B seems bonkers, but time will tell. There are a few outcomes
       | here: pop, life changes incredibly, or this is the stagnation
       | period that seems to happen with AI/ML. LLMs have changed the way
       | I work already, the question is "what is next". I am hoping that
       | I am ahead of others on the Hype cycle, but only time will tell
       | (from heavy use of AI tools).
        
         | madeofpalk wrote:
         | > _I think that the bet here is that LLMs will continue to get
         | better and better_
         | 
         | I don't think so. I think the way we use the same LLMs will
         | continue to get better. Cursor is built on essentially the
         | exact same LLM models as VSCode/Github Copilot, yet Cursor
         | managed to wring a lot more usefulness out of them.
         | 
         | I think it's still early days in understanding how to use LLMs
         | as a foundational technology to build out other products, and
         | improving the models isn't all that necessary. In my view.
        
           | sumoboy wrote:
           | I think it's a combination of both, the LLM's today for
           | coding are just average containing a lot of pre-2024
           | knowledge. The vibe tools are getting around some of the
           | shortcomings and increased token limits which is great, but
           | up to date current knowledge can't rely on llm.txt doc
           | updates as context and expect reasonable code generation.
           | Give me some monthly updated topic related LLM's to use
           | (coding, content writing, history), I don't need the entire
           | world all the time.
        
       | outside1234 wrote:
       | This is crack smoking. This company is going to get wiped out by
       | GitHub Copilot in short order.
        
         | jryan49 wrote:
         | Currently, GH co-pilot sucks. At least the plan we have at
         | work...
        
         | UncleOxidant wrote:
         | And/or wiped out by VS Code plugins like Cline and Kilo which
         | are free.
        
         | anon7000 wrote:
         | Probably not -- I know of companies dropping GH Copilot because
         | of low internal usage compared to cursor.
        
       | twodave wrote:
       | Are different coding agents better at different languages? Like
       | if I'm trying to write in python vs Golang vs PHP vs C#, am I
       | going to want a different agent for each? Or is one agent going
       | to be more or less consistent among all languages?
        
         | kristopolous wrote:
         | really, prompting and workflow style is 80%.
         | 
         | AI is like any other program, good output can't come from bad
         | input.
        
       | jmacd wrote:
       | Any IDE based editor feels like a stopgap to me. We may not be
       | there yet, but I feel that in the future a "vibe coder" isn't
       | even going to look at much code at all. Much of what developers
       | who are relying on Cursor, Windmill, Replit, etc etc are doing is
       | performative as it relates to code. There is just a lot of
       | copy/pasting of console errors and asking for things one way or
       | another.
       | 
       | Casual or "vibe" coding is all about the output. Doesn't work?
       | Roll back. Works well? Keep going. Feeling gutsy? Single shot.
        
         | seattle_spring wrote:
         | Vibe coding is just a prototyping tool / "dev influencer"
         | gimmick. No one serious is using Cursor for vibe coding, nor
         | will anyone serious ever vibe code. It's for AI assisted
         | development-- in other words, a more powerful intellisense.
        
           | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
           | The people who outsource their jobs to mechanical Turks will
           | be using it until their employer(s) find out.
        
           | odie5533 wrote:
           | Have you tried Bolt.new? You can vibe code with it.
        
           | jmacd wrote:
           | I felt the same way for a while, but I am really not so sure
           | now. Cursor is definitely drawing on the influencer/growth
           | well to drive some portion of these #s.
           | 
           | It's a lot easier and more scaleable to get 1000 people "vibe
           | coding" than it is to get 10 experienced engineers using you
           | for autocomplete.
        
         | victorbjorklund wrote:
         | Cursor isnt for vibe coding. I use it. I ask the AI to do
         | something I know how to do but it can do it faster. I check the
         | changes to make sure everything looks good.
        
       | ndr wrote:
       | WARNING for Cursor users: Cursor is currently stuck using an
       | outdated snapshot of the VSCode Marketplace, meaning several
       | extensions within Cursor remain affected by high-severity CVEs
       | that have already been patched upstream in VSCode. As a result,
       | Cursor users unknowingly remain vulnerable to known security
       | issues. This issue has been acknowledged but remains unresolved:
       | https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/1602#issuecomment...
       | 
       | Given Cursor's rising popularity, users should be aware of this
       | gap in security updates. Until the Cursor team resolves the
       | marketplace sync issue, caution is advised when using certain
       | extensions.
       | 
       | I've flagged it here, apologies for the repost:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43609572
        
         | bix6 wrote:
         | Is there a list of extensions to avoid?
        
       | drbojingle wrote:
       | Good for them. IMO they should ditch the editor though. I see no
       | reason that they should tie themselves to one editor. It seems
       | like a waste of time. If Claude code let me use me subscription
       | I'd be off cursor pretty quick.
        
         | cantSpellSober wrote:
         | easier sell/setup
        
           | BeetleB wrote:
           | > Makes it an easier sell to devs, "you don't have to
           | 'change' editors" and it makes setup easier if you happen to
           | be using VSC
           | 
           | But tying it to an editor (including VSCode) means "you have
           | to change editors".
           | 
           | I don't use VSCode, so any solution requiring it is a no-go.
           | 
           | When we have aider[1], which works with _any_ editor /IDE, I
           | just don't see the value in trying Cursor, et al.
           | 
           | [1] https://aider.chat/
        
             | sanswork wrote:
             | The value for me in cursor is the tab feature not the chat.
             | I use the chat to generate code maybe once per week but the
             | tab autocompleting saves me probably 30 minutes per day.
        
         | odie5533 wrote:
         | Please do not ditch the editor! Cursor's integrated IDE with
         | easy changes I can read is the whole reason I like it the best!
        
         | anon7000 wrote:
         | Cursor editor autocomplete (cursor tab) is the one feature I
         | use constantly. Everything else is more selective for my type
         | of work.
        
         | nyrulez wrote:
         | Asking a programmer to ditch their editor is just wild. A lot
         | of this thread seems to be full of non-programmers trying to
         | figure out why Cursor exists lmao
        
         | victorbjorklund wrote:
         | Claude Max can be used with Claude Code
        
           | drbojingle wrote:
           | Yea just learned that today but it's quite expensive imo.
        
       | bix6 wrote:
       | $200M ARR so that's a 45x multiple. Wow.
       | 
       | Why not go public?
        
         | givemeethekeys wrote:
         | Because there's plenty of private equity lined up and dumb
         | enough to buy at a 45x multiple.
        
       | brianbreslin wrote:
       | Does this fundraising only make sense if cursor is planning to
       | jump into the infrastructure side too? To do application hosting
       | layer like Replit.
        
       | nyrulez wrote:
       | Calling Cursor a vibe coding app is just wild. The journalists
       | and influencers are so out of touch with the software engineering
       | world.
        
         | indigodaddy wrote:
         | There's plenty of people using Cursor this way though:
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/opB25teOxYQ
         | 
         | Just because (perhaps) a majority of SWEs are using it
         | responsibly as a tool, doesn't mean that a likely fairly wide
         | swath of newcomers aren't jumping on the vibe coding wave.
        
       | kennu wrote:
       | Cursor is not about vibe coding. Vibe coding means you don't care
       | about the AI's code output as long as it works. Cursor is all
       | about efficiently reviewing the AI-proposed changes and hitting
       | Tab only when you approve them. Much of the editing process is
       | hitting Esc because the proposed change is not good.
        
         | guywithahat wrote:
         | I know this is a meta point but I'm pretty sure vibe coding is
         | just an X meme that means whatever the poster intends. I'm not
         | sure you can say vibe coding does or doesn't care about
         | relative quality
        
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