Stop Using VS Code: Why Cursor AI Is Quietly Replacing Your Favorite Editor

 

Photo by Oskar Yildiz on Unsplash

Discover the shocking shift in dev tools happening under your nose. Let me start with the one sentence most devs don’t want to hear:

VS Code isn’t the best code editor anymore.

I know, I know — it feels like blasphemy.

You’ve customized your theme. Your plugins are dialed in. You’ve got the tab width just right. You feel fast in it. Efficient. At home.

But here’s the truth:

Cursor AI is eating VS Code’s lunch — and most devs haven’t even noticed.

This isn’t about features. It’s about how we write, debug, and build software in 2025. And VS Code, for all its greatness, is stuck in a pre-AI mindset.

VS Code Is Optimized for Yesterday’s Developer

Let’s be brutally honest.

VS Code was designed for a world where:

• You Google errors.
• You write every line manually.
• You memorize boilerplate.
• You rely on 20 extensions to “hack” productivity.
• You read docs and cross-reference Stack Overflow daily.

Sound familiar?

Cursor isn’t just a prettier VS Code. It’s a rethink of what it means to code with AI by your side.

And that changes everything.

Cursor Isn’t a Code Editor. It’s a co-engineer.

Where VS Code ends at autocomplete, the cursor begins.

It doesn’t just suggest code — it understands your project.

Want to:

• Refactor a component across files?
• Rewrite a backend route in a different style.
• Ask why your state is behaving weirdly.

You don’t open docs or switch to ChatGPT.

You highlight the code.

Right-click.

And say what you want.

“Make this logic cleaner and remove duplicate checks.”

“Convert this to TypeScript and explain the types.”

“Why might this return undefined?”

And it does it. In context. Without copy-pasting. Without plugins.

Cursor Eliminates the Worst Part of Dev Work: Context Switching

VS Code makes you feel productive while you juggle:

• Terminal windows
• Docs
• Stack Overflow
• ChatGPT
• Debug panels
• File explorers
• Test runners

Cursor absorbs that chaos.

• Terminal? Built-in.
• ChatGPT? Baked in — but with repo awareness.
• Docs? It reads your codebase instead.
• Stack Overflow? Not needed — it debugs inline.
• Copilot? It is a cursor but with a brain.

Cursor isn’t “faster VS Code.” It’s a new layer of intelligence inside the editor itself.

The First Time I Tried Cursor, I Was Skeptical

Here’s what I expected:

Some AI gimmicks on top of VS Code.

Here’s what I got:

A tool that read my code, explained bugs better than my teammates, and wrote better PRs than I could.

Within an hour, I’d:

• Rewritten an entire auth flow by describing the new logic
• Removed 200 lines of useless legacy code (with reasons!
• Debugged an obscure memory leak without leaving the editor.

It felt like I had a pair of programmers — but one that never got tired, got snarky, and knew my entire codebase.

VS Code Isn’t Dying. It’s Just Becoming the Old Way.

Here’s the catch:

The cursor is still VS Code under the hood.

But it’s enhanced. Elevated. Modernized. That’s the part people miss. The cursor looks familiar. It feels familiar.

But once you stop treating it like “just another editor” and start using it like a thinking partner. You realize VS Code was never designed for this future.

Cursor Isn’t a Tool. It’s a mindset shift.

Using Cursor forces you to stop being a typist and start being an architect.

• You stop memorizing.
• You stop re-Googling.
• You start describing and refining ideas.
• You start working like a real software engineer, not a code janitor.

The more I use it, the less I code. And that’s a good thing. The cursor helps you think through the solution, not just generate syntax. That’s the future.

Why the Cursor Shift Is Happening Quietly

The reason Cursor is still “underground” is simple:

Most devs are skeptical.

They’re loyal to their workflow.

They’ve invested hours into their VS Code setup.

They think “AI coding” means Copilot and that’s it.

So they miss it.

They don’t see that the dev tooling stack is shifting under their feet.

But it is.

And a year from now, the ones who learned how to work with AI like a partner — not a gimmick — will be miles ahead.

Don’t Be the Dev Still Configuring Plugins While Everyone Else Is Shipping

You can cling to your perfectly tuned VS Code setup.

You can keep copy-pasting from ChatGPT into files.

You can debug like it’s 2018.

Or…

You can open Cursor, write less, think more, and build faster, cleaner, and smarter.

It’s already happening.

The shift isn’t loud. But it’s real.

Stop using VS Code.

Or, at least, stop using it like it’s the only way.