Cursor IDE Mastery
Lesson 1 of 5
Setup Checklist
0/3By the end of this lesson, you'll have Cursor installed, signed in, and ready for AI-powered coding—no config anxiety.
Est. time: 5–10 minutes per lesson
Installation & Setup
Getting Started with Cursor
Cursor is a fork of VS Code that's been rebuilt from the ground up for AI-first development. If you know VS Code, you'll feel right at home.
Step 1: Download Cursor
- 1. Go to cursor.sh
- 2. Download for your platform (Windows, Mac, or Linux)
- 3. Install like any other application
For VS Code users: Seamless migration awaits. All your extensions, themes, and keybindings will transfer over.
Step 2: Import Your Settings
When you first open Cursor, it'll ask if you want to import settings from VS Code. Say yes — all your extensions, themes, and keybindings will transfer over.
For beginners: Don't worry if you don't have VS Code. Cursor works great out of the box! We'll guide you through every step.
Step 3: Sign In
You'll need to create a Cursor account to unlock AI features.
Free Tier (Perfect for this lab!):
- • 50 slow requests per month
- • Access to GPT-4 and Claude
Starting out? Free tier is plenty for this entire lab. You won't need Pro features yet. Focus on learning, not spending!
Curious about Pro? ($20/month)
- • 500 fast requests per month
- • Unlimited slow requests
- • Priority access to new models
Step 4: Configure Your API Keys (Optional)
💡 Advanced (Skip for now)
Want to unlock Claude's full power? Here's where API keys come in. You can skip this for now and come back later when you're ready.
If you have your own OpenAI or Anthropic API keys, you can use those instead:
- 1. Open Settings (Ctrl/Cmd + ,)
- 2. Search for "API Keys"
- 3. Enter your keys
This is useful if you want unlimited usage or access to specific models.
Quick Self-Check
What's one benefit of importing VS Code settings into Cursor?