Getting Started with Cursor: From Setup to First AI-Powered Code

In Part A of this blog, I introduced Cursor, shared the features I love, and promised to show you how to install and use it. Well, today’s the day.

We’ll walk through the installation process step-by-step, and I’ll share a short demo of how I used Cursor for a real coding task. My test prompt was:

“Write a unit test for a CI/CD pipeline.”

And yes, Cursor delivered.

First Installation Guide

1. Go to the official Cursor website → https://cursor.com

2. Download the installer for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

3. Run the installer and follow the on-screen prompts, the process is very similar to installing VS Code, so if you’ve installed VS Code before, this process will feel familiar.

4. Log in or create an account (you can use Google or GitHub). After installation, open the Cursor application. The first time it runs, it may ask you to sign up or log in. Go ahead and create a free account (just an email and password). Every new user automatically gets a 14-day free trial of the Pro plan with no credit card required.​ This trial gives you full access to all features so you can test everything out.

5. Open Cursor, and you’re ready to start coding with AI assistance. On first launch, Cursor might prompt to import settings from VS Code. If you have used VS Code before, you can let Cursor import your extensions, theme, and key bindings in one click​. This is optional but helps make the environment feel like home. You can also choose your editor theme or font size in settings, just as you would in VS Code — feel free to adjust things like theme and fonts to your liking.

6. Check Requirements: Ensure you have a stable internet connection because the AI features run via cloud services. You don’t need to configure any AI keys; Cursor’s AI works out of the box once logged in. Also, if you plan to write code in certain languages (like Python or Node.js), you’ll want those runtimes installed on your system to run the code — but you can still use Cursor’s AI to write the code even if you run it elsewhere.

Tip*:* If you run into any issues installing, check the official docs or community forum. For instance, on Linux, you might need to give permission to the AppImage to execute.

My First Demo in Cursor

Once installed, I opened a new project and typed my prompt:

“Write a unit test for a CI/CD pipeline.”

Few seconds in, Cursor generated the test code and even created the necessary files. It sets up a sample project structure, added the test file, and included assertions to verify that key pipeline steps, such as build, deploy, and rollback, run as expected. It even included comments explaining each section of the code, something that’s extremely helpful when you’re validating pipeline logic. I didn’t have to write a single line manually. The result was clean, well-commented code that I could run right away.

🎥 Watch the short recording below to see Cursor in action:

Why this impressed me?
What stood out wasn’t just the speed, but the accuracy. In a real-world scenario, writing these tests manually could take hours—especially for someone unfamiliar with the pipeline setup. Cursor handled it in seconds, giving me a solid base I could tweak instead of starting from scratch.

That’s a huge productivity boost for both developers and QA engineers.

My suggestion: Don’t hesitate to try new features; they’re built to make coding easier. And don’t be afraid to use Cursor as a learning tool, even outside of active projects.

I know opinions vary, some worry AI will replace engineers—but I believe AI is here to work with us, not against us.

Contributions are welcome!