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