Used For

• +**Your authentication code from ChatGPT works locally but breaks in production** → AI reads your entire codebase and catches the environment variable you forgot
• +**You're spending 3 hours debugging forms that should take 30 minutes** → AI generates database schemas, validation rules, and UI components that actually work together
• +**Copy-pasting between ChatGPT and VS Code 50 times per day** → AI lives in your editor, understands your project structure, suggests relevant fixes
• +Agent mode builds entire features - you say "add todo filtering" and it creates files, updates routes, handles the boring stuff
• +Custom rules file means AI follows your patterns - always adds error handling, uses your preferred naming, matches your code style

Best For

• >Solo developers drowning in boilerplate - authentication screens and database forms are soul-crushing
• >Your side project is stuck at 60% done because coding after work feels like punishment
• >You're building MVPs fast and ChatGPT keeps giving you code that breaks in production

Not For

• -Teams under 3 people who are fine with free VS Code plus GitHub Copilot - you're paying $20+/month for overkill
• -Non-programmers hoping this makes coding easy - you still need to know React, databases, and how web apps work
• -Heavy users who code 8+ hours daily - you'll burn through AI quotas fast and the overages add up quick

Pairs With

• *Supabase (AI generates database schemas and security policies that actually work)
• *Vercel (where you deploy the MVPs you built in hours instead of weeks)
• *Claude API (powers the Agent mode that burns through your quota doing the heavy thinking)
• *Makerkit (SaaS boilerplates that AI can read and extend without breaking patterns)
• *PostgreSQL (AI writes working SQL queries and migration files)
• *GitHub (where AI generates commit messages so you don't have to think of "fix stuff" for the 50th time)

The Catch

• !You'll hit the monthly AI quota limits during heavy coding sessions and have to wait or pay overages
• !The AI Agent is verbose as hell - generates 100-line commits when 20 would do, requires manual cleanup
• !Works great for prototypes and small projects, but struggles with complex codebases over 10k lines without manual guidance

Bottom Line

Cursor reads your entire codebase, understands your stack, and lets you plug in the best AI models so you can ship production‑ready code in hours instead of days.