Cursor has two windows. The Agents Window is where you talk to the agent and see your app running. The editor is the classic code view. You will spend most of this course in the first one.
The Agents Window
This is what opens when you start Cursor. It is built around one thing: describing what you want and watching the agent do it.
- Sidebar
- New Chat starts a conversation. Search finds past ones. Customize holds rules, skills and plugins. Repositories lists your projects, each with its chats underneath.
- Above the prompt
- Three menus: which project, which branch, and where the agent runs. This Mac means on your computer.
- The prompt box
- Type what you want. Type / for skills or @ to point at a file. The model name sits underneath, and the mic lets you speak instead of type.
- Quick starts
- Plan New Idea (or Shift+Tab) plans before building. Suggestions such as Build from a design and Start with a plan set up a first message for you.
Open your project
Add it to Repositories
Click the folder icon with a plus next to Repositories, then type your project's name and pick it.
If it is not listed
A brand-new folder may not show up yet. Use File → Open Folder in the menu bar and choose it once. After that it appears under Repositories.
Select it
Pick the project in the menu above the prompt box. Everything you ask now happens in that project.
Once the agent is working
After your first message the window splits. The conversation sits on the left. On the right, tabs show Changes (every file the agent edited) and a browser with your app. Under the conversation, buttons open the Terminal, Design Mode and Commit & Push, and a box takes your next message.
The editor
The editor is Cursor's classic view: your files on the left, the code in the middle, and the agent in a panel on the right. Use it when you want to read or tweak code yourself. Tab completions and inline edits (lessons 4 and 6) live here.
Switching between them
- To the editor: click IDE at the top right of the Agents Window. It opens your current project in the editor.
- Back to the Agents Window: both windows stay open. Pick it from the Window menu, or press Cmd+` (backtick) to move between Cursor windows.
Same keys, different jobs
A few shortcuts do different things depending on which window you are in. This catches people out early.
- Cmd+K
- In the editor: edit the selected code by describing the change. In the Agents Window: search.
- Cmd+L
- In the editor: open the agent panel. In Design Mode: add the selected element to the chat.
- Cmd+Shift+D
- Turns Design Mode on and off. It only works in the Agents Window browser.
- Cmd+N: new chat
- Cmd+P: find a file by name
- Cmd+J: show the terminal (editor)
- Shift+Tab: switch the agent between modes (lesson 5)
On Windows, use Ctrl in place of Cmd.
Start every task in the Agents Window. Drop into the editor only when you want to look at the code yourself, then switch back.
You know your way around
- You know what the Agents Window and the editor are each for
- You can add a project and select it
- You can switch between the two windows
- You know which shortcuts change meaning between them
Next, you will make your first AI-assisted edit.