6 ms·

Has anyone who uses an IDE (e.g., JetBrains, not a code editor) moved to Cursor? I've downloaded it a few times because everyone raves about it, but I've always

Has anyone who uses an IDE (e.g., JetBrains, not a code editor) moved to Cursor? I've downloaded it a few times because everyone raves about it, but I've always come back almost immediately because editors can't reliably make changes across projects (among many other things)... What am I missing? FWIW I use GoLand w/ Supermaven, currently.

joshstrange 2y ago
This is the main sticking point for me, I'm not leaving JetBrains anytime soon. GitHub Copilot + Aider handle my needs beautifully and while I wish Aider had deep IDE integration I can work around that (Yes, I know about the "AI!" command thing, it's a cool idea but sucks in practice). Aider in browser mode has pretty much replaced my back and forth to ChatGPT/Claude's web UI to the point that I'm considering going API-only for both of those (currently pay for the $20/mo plan for each).
- smallerfish 2y ago
  For Jetbrains users: consider voting for https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/LLM-2402 https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/LLM-2402
  - solardev 2y ago
    Seems like they're adding Claude in January? https://www.jetbrains.com/legal/docs/terms/jetbrains-ai/service-providers/ https://www.jetbrains.com/legal/docs/terms/jetbrains-ai/serv...
    - smallerfish 2y ago
      Cool! Seems like they could have commented on that ticket. :)
      - solardev 2y ago
        We just need to make another ticket asking them to comment on this one, then ask HN to upvote it!
- SkyPuncher 2y ago
  Jetbrains is still the leader in all of the small details that make navigating and working a code base easy. Copy and paste workflow is a minor slowdown, but nothing compared to things like smart links in terminal, auto detection of run configurations, etc, etc.
  - joshstrange 2y ago
    This. 1000x This. I watch people navigate code in VSCode and I want to pull my hair out. Things that I don’t even think about are hard and/or require just falling back to search. And before “there is a plugin for that”, I’m sure there is. I’m sure you can configure VSCode to be just as powerful as IDEA but the rank and file using it aren’t doing that work to install and configure a bunch of plugins. So, on average, VSCode doesn’t hold a candle to an IDEA. With Aider I skip a lot of the copy/pasting but I’d still copy/paste to the browser before I left IDEA.
    - nick_ 2y ago
      For literally multiple years I tried to convince a colleague of mine to try Rider. They're a diehard CLI and VS Code user. I made a video showing my workflow and how quickly I can navigate around and do refactors. Next day they were saying they couldn't believe it took them this long to use something better.
    - poincaredisk 2y ago
      >I watch people navigate code in VSCode and I want to pull my hair out. For me it's the other way around, when I see someone using an IDE instead of a lean editor I see their struggle. Multiple seconds to open the IDE (sometimes tens of second), multi-hundred millisecond lag when opening a file, noticeable input lag. And when you have to edit a file your IDE doesn't understand, all you have is a bloated notepad. I know I'm biased and I intentionally wrote this one-sided to counter your post. In practice, it just depends. Right now in my work I primarily edit scripts (up to a few hundred lines of code), do quick edits to various larger projects - sometimes few different projects a day - and read files in dozens of programming language (I only reall program in Python and C/C++, but I have to constantly consult various weird pieces of code). VsCode works great for me. On the other hand, long time ago when I was working on large C# projects, I can't imagine not using Visual Studio (or Rider nowadays I guess).
- pl-27 2y ago
  I will also stick with JetBrains and am impressed by aider! I'm using this plugin to integrate aider into IntelliJ: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/25249-coding-aider https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/25249-coding-aider Still in progress but already pretty useful
  - joshstrange 2y ago
    Wow! Thank you for calling out that plugin, I hadn't see it. It is very useful and I love the better integration. I feel like with just a little more QoL stuff this plugin will be amazing. I am getting a weird hang after Aider "completes", the dialog hangs and takes 20-30 sec before the IDE becomes usable again. Features I'd love: * Reproduce the web/browser chat UI in the IDE, this is an easy concept to interact with vs a dialog that goes away after each run * Provide tabs for multiple chats (each chat can have different files/history/etc) * Allow multiple Aider processes running at the same time But this is still super slick as-is, thank you!
lowkj 2y ago
I had been using JetBrains (Webstorm and PyCharm before that) for years now and just switched to Cursor a few months ago. I never liked the way AI copilots tacked onto the IDE worked and preferred to just use standalone ChatGPT. Been very happy with the Cursor experience, big improvement in UX from my perspective.
asdev 2y ago
I've tried both Copilot and JetBrains AI with IntelliJ and both are awful compared to Cursor. No multiline editing, no composer, worse at writing tests etc.
singularity2001 2y ago
Tried to move from JetBrains to VS Code with new Copilot Edit mode. Moved back to JetBrains and horribly outdated copy paste workflow ... for now. Disruption is imminent though. (And yes JetBrains AI integration got better but the 'insert code at cursor option' is laughable. There is a command to generate code right in the editor too, but not from chat. Also $10 extra. ) PS: One UI feature that I haven't seen anywhere yet is not splitting the screen into code and chat but unifying it. Also a common approach (e.g. in openai composer) seems to be to modify the file line by line which takes a very long time if the file is long, which (agentic) tools use a diff approach instead?
- attentive 2y ago
  > which (agentic) tools use a diff approach instead? aider
- eastbound 2y ago
  Jetbrains is getting laughingly bad at normal autocompletion. Autocompletiok is losing features every day, it seems. Yes, Jetbrains might either be removing features to move them to AI, or breaking features involuntarily in order to move faster to implement AI. Either way, AI is killing Jetbrains.
  - singularity2001 2y ago
    Oh that's why; I thought my copilot got worse. I think it got replaced by the worse Jetbrains AI. Can I selectively deactivate it?
vr46 2y ago
Yes, I finally decided not to renew my über-cheap JetBrains subscription in January and shift to VSCode + Copilot with Claude, then tested Cursor and dropped Copilot. Cursor is still a bit frustrating and gets trapped in circular reasoning a lot, but its features are good, like creating files.
matsemann 2y ago
Actually writing code is a small part of what I do in the IDE. So I'm not keen on jumping ship to a whole new editor and lose all the IDE stuff. But I do think IDEs need to step up. The editors will get the IDE features slowly (or be able to work around some of them, like how an IDE can know your database layout and help you write sql, the AI helpers can make educated guesses as well and get close), so the IDEs don't have a big moat.
efsavage 2y ago
I can't wait for IntelliJ to get where Cursor appears to be. Being able to combine a great IDE with project-level AI coding will be a huge leap forward.
- ManuelKiessling 2y ago
  I'm going to feel personally offended if Jetbrains drops the ball on this. Seriously, this here right now is the precise moment in time where people will either look back at wondering how such a clear leader managed to sink into insignificance, or not. I love IntelliJ more than my own kids, but if they don't add "the AI does not just talk about what code to create, it actually creates it, across multiple files and folders", then I'm out. Just yesterday I made Cursor rewrite the whole ui layer of my app from light-mode-only to light-and-dark-mode-with-switcher in one single sweep, in less than 5 minutes (it would have taken me hours, if not days to do it manually), and this is just not feasible if you have to manually copy-and-paste whatever Jetbrains AI spits out. Jetbrains — Move. Now!
  - jgalt212 2y ago
    Very impressive. Was it a React application?
    - ManuelKiessling 2y ago
      PHP/Symfony/Twig with TailwindCSS.
  - phist_mcgee 2y ago
    My experience mirrors this exactly. I loved WebStorm, but I can't use it anymore because Cursor is just a massive productivity booster for things like what you're describing. Claude 3.5 + Cursor has fundamentally improved my productivity. It's worth the 20 dollars a month. I've written thousands of lines of Vitest tests with it, and they have come out near perfect. It would have taken me days to write those tests by hand, but now I can just generate them and review each to make sure it works. Intellij will have it's lunch eaten if it doesn't pursue the Cursor/Windsurf editing modality.
stadeschuldt 2y ago
I've been using https://www.codegpt.ee https://www.codegpt.ee with the Jetbrains IDEs (mainly PyCharm) and I'm pretty happy with it. You can also bring your own API key.
- evrenesat 2y ago
  Yes, for non-agentic AI assisted development flow, CodeGPT is better than most IntelliJ plugins, inculding JB's own Assistant.
beyang 2y ago
Check out Cody for GoLand and JetBrains: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9682-cody-ai-coding-assistant-with-autocomplete--chat https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9682-cody-ai-coding-ass...
d4rkp4ttern 2y ago
I’m also a JetBrains person and never really “got” VSCode. So cursor was not a fit for me, the VSC kn shortcuts always felt limiting. So I use zed since it can be configured to use JB kb shortcuts. And it’s open source and super fast (rust-based)
- yoble 2y ago
  I have the same issue, I tried to get into VSCode a few times but each time switched back to JetBrains. If your main issue is the keybinding though there is a vscode plugin[1] that recreates Intellij IDEA bindings, which I found helped smooth the transition during my tryouts for me. [1] https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=k--kato.intellij-idea-keybindings https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=k--kato....
  - d4rkp4ttern 2y ago
    Thanks! Maybe this will open me up to cursor/windsurf.
raisedbyninjas 2y ago
I keep my projects open in Cursor and Visual Studio at the same time. Cursor is only used to interact with the AI.
- MoreMoore 2y ago
  This is my approach as well with Cursor and Intellij IDEA.
evrenesat 2y ago
I've been a PyCharm user for over a decade, but recently decided to experiment with VS Code-like editors again. I subscribed to Windsurf pro tier, and while it's quite lacking as a traditional IDE, its AI capabilities are incredible. I'm now considering not renewing my PyCharm license next year. Until (if ever) I fully adapt to Windsurf, I'm planning to use both tools together - PyCharm for the features I'm most comfortable with (where I also use "CodeGPT.ee" plugin), and Windsurf for its AI strengths.
8f2ab37a-ed6c 2y ago
Same, would love all of these awesome AI features, but I have to use Rider.
cube2222 2y ago
Yeah, agreed. Personally, I'm using Goland for editing, along with Zed for its AI assistant. I just have the same project open in both, and do any AI editing in Zed. I really like the AI UX in Zed with the chat window on the right being context for inline assist (and being able to easily include tons of files in the context window).
raincole 2y ago
I personally jumped between Rider and Cursor for a while, and finally settled with Rider. However I think JetBrains should be worrying. I've been using and paying for JetBrains products for many years and Cursor is the only thing making me consider switching from it.

joshstrange 2y ago

This is the main sticking point for me, I'm not leaving JetBrains anytime soon. GitHub Copilot + Aider handle my needs beautifully and while I wish Aider had deep IDE integration I can work around that (Yes, I know about the "AI!" command thing, it's a cool idea but sucks in practice). Aider in browser mode has pretty much replaced my back and forth to ChatGPT/Claude's web UI to the point that I'm considering going API-only for both of those (currently pay for the $20/mo plan for each).

smallerfish 2y ago
For Jetbrains users: consider voting for https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/LLM-2402 https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/LLM-2402
- solardev 2y ago
  Seems like they're adding Claude in January? https://www.jetbrains.com/legal/docs/terms/jetbrains-ai/service-providers/ https://www.jetbrains.com/legal/docs/terms/jetbrains-ai/serv...
  - smallerfish 2y ago
    Cool! Seems like they could have commented on that ticket. :)
    - solardev 2y ago
      We just need to make another ticket asking them to comment on this one, then ask HN to upvote it!
SkyPuncher 2y ago
Jetbrains is still the leader in all of the small details that make navigating and working a code base easy. Copy and paste workflow is a minor slowdown, but nothing compared to things like smart links in terminal, auto detection of run configurations, etc, etc.
- joshstrange 2y ago
  This. 1000x This. I watch people navigate code in VSCode and I want to pull my hair out. Things that I don’t even think about are hard and/or require just falling back to search. And before “there is a plugin for that”, I’m sure there is. I’m sure you can configure VSCode to be just as powerful as IDEA but the rank and file using it aren’t doing that work to install and configure a bunch of plugins. So, on average, VSCode doesn’t hold a candle to an IDEA. With Aider I skip a lot of the copy/pasting but I’d still copy/paste to the browser before I left IDEA.
  - nick_ 2y ago
    For literally multiple years I tried to convince a colleague of mine to try Rider. They're a diehard CLI and VS Code user. I made a video showing my workflow and how quickly I can navigate around and do refactors. Next day they were saying they couldn't believe it took them this long to use something better.
  - poincaredisk 2y ago
    >I watch people navigate code in VSCode and I want to pull my hair out. For me it's the other way around, when I see someone using an IDE instead of a lean editor I see their struggle. Multiple seconds to open the IDE (sometimes tens of second), multi-hundred millisecond lag when opening a file, noticeable input lag. And when you have to edit a file your IDE doesn't understand, all you have is a bloated notepad. I know I'm biased and I intentionally wrote this one-sided to counter your post. In practice, it just depends. Right now in my work I primarily edit scripts (up to a few hundred lines of code), do quick edits to various larger projects - sometimes few different projects a day - and read files in dozens of programming language (I only reall program in Python and C/C++, but I have to constantly consult various weird pieces of code). VsCode works great for me. On the other hand, long time ago when I was working on large C# projects, I can't imagine not using Visual Studio (or Rider nowadays I guess).
pl-27 2y ago
I will also stick with JetBrains and am impressed by aider! I'm using this plugin to integrate aider into IntelliJ: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/25249-coding-aider https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/25249-coding-aider Still in progress but already pretty useful
- joshstrange 2y ago
  Wow! Thank you for calling out that plugin, I hadn't see it. It is very useful and I love the better integration. I feel like with just a little more QoL stuff this plugin will be amazing. I am getting a weird hang after Aider "completes", the dialog hangs and takes 20-30 sec before the IDE becomes usable again. Features I'd love: * Reproduce the web/browser chat UI in the IDE, this is an easy concept to interact with vs a dialog that goes away after each run * Provide tabs for multiple chats (each chat can have different files/history/etc) * Allow multiple Aider processes running at the same time But this is still super slick as-is, thank you!

lowkj 2y ago

I had been using JetBrains (Webstorm and PyCharm before that) for years now and just switched to Cursor a few months ago. I never liked the way AI copilots tacked onto the IDE worked and preferred to just use standalone ChatGPT. Been very happy with the Cursor experience, big improvement in UX from my perspective.

asdev 2y ago

I've tried both Copilot and JetBrains AI with IntelliJ and both are awful compared to Cursor. No multiline editing, no composer, worse at writing tests etc.

singularity2001 2y ago

Tried to move from JetBrains to VS Code with new Copilot Edit mode. Moved back to JetBrains and horribly outdated copy paste workflow ... for now. Disruption is imminent though. (And yes JetBrains AI integration got better but the 'insert code at cursor option' is laughable. There is a command to generate code right in the editor too, but not from chat. Also $10 extra. ) PS: One UI feature that I haven't seen anywhere yet is not splitting the screen into code and chat but unifying it. Also a common approach (e.g. in openai composer) seems to be to modify the file line by line which takes a very long time if the file is long, which (agentic) tools use a diff approach instead?

attentive 2y ago
> which (agentic) tools use a diff approach instead? aider
eastbound 2y ago
Jetbrains is getting laughingly bad at normal autocompletion. Autocompletiok is losing features every day, it seems. Yes, Jetbrains might either be removing features to move them to AI, or breaking features involuntarily in order to move faster to implement AI. Either way, AI is killing Jetbrains.
- singularity2001 2y ago
  Oh that's why; I thought my copilot got worse. I think it got replaced by the worse Jetbrains AI. Can I selectively deactivate it?

vr46 2y ago

Yes, I finally decided not to renew my über-cheap JetBrains subscription in January and shift to VSCode + Copilot with Claude, then tested Cursor and dropped Copilot. Cursor is still a bit frustrating and gets trapped in circular reasoning a lot, but its features are good, like creating files.

matsemann 2y ago

Actually writing code is a small part of what I do in the IDE. So I'm not keen on jumping ship to a whole new editor and lose all the IDE stuff. But I do think IDEs need to step up. The editors will get the IDE features slowly (or be able to work around some of them, like how an IDE can know your database layout and help you write sql, the AI helpers can make educated guesses as well and get close), so the IDEs don't have a big moat.

efsavage 2y ago

I can't wait for IntelliJ to get where Cursor appears to be. Being able to combine a great IDE with project-level AI coding will be a huge leap forward.

ManuelKiessling 2y ago
I'm going to feel personally offended if Jetbrains drops the ball on this. Seriously, this here right now is the precise moment in time where people will either look back at wondering how such a clear leader managed to sink into insignificance, or not. I love IntelliJ more than my own kids, but if they don't add "the AI does not just talk about what code to create, it actually creates it, across multiple files and folders", then I'm out. Just yesterday I made Cursor rewrite the whole ui layer of my app from light-mode-only to light-and-dark-mode-with-switcher in one single sweep, in less than 5 minutes (it would have taken me hours, if not days to do it manually), and this is just not feasible if you have to manually copy-and-paste whatever Jetbrains AI spits out. Jetbrains — Move. Now!
- jgalt212 2y ago
  Very impressive. Was it a React application?
  - ManuelKiessling 2y ago
    PHP/Symfony/Twig with TailwindCSS.
- phist_mcgee 2y ago
  My experience mirrors this exactly. I loved WebStorm, but I can't use it anymore because Cursor is just a massive productivity booster for things like what you're describing. Claude 3.5 + Cursor has fundamentally improved my productivity. It's worth the 20 dollars a month. I've written thousands of lines of Vitest tests with it, and they have come out near perfect. It would have taken me days to write those tests by hand, but now I can just generate them and review each to make sure it works. Intellij will have it's lunch eaten if it doesn't pursue the Cursor/Windsurf editing modality.

stadeschuldt 2y ago

I've been using https://www.codegpt.ee https://www.codegpt.ee with the Jetbrains IDEs (mainly PyCharm) and I'm pretty happy with it. You can also bring your own API key.

evrenesat 2y ago
Yes, for non-agentic AI assisted development flow, CodeGPT is better than most IntelliJ plugins, inculding JB's own Assistant.

beyang 2y ago

Check out Cody for GoLand and JetBrains: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9682-cody-ai-coding-assistant-with-autocomplete--chat https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9682-cody-ai-coding-ass...

d4rkp4ttern 2y ago

I’m also a JetBrains person and never really “got” VSCode. So cursor was not a fit for me, the VSC kn shortcuts always felt limiting. So I use zed since it can be configured to use JB kb shortcuts. And it’s open source and super fast (rust-based)

yoble 2y ago
I have the same issue, I tried to get into VSCode a few times but each time switched back to JetBrains. If your main issue is the keybinding though there is a vscode plugin[1] that recreates Intellij IDEA bindings, which I found helped smooth the transition during my tryouts for me. [1] https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=k--kato.intellij-idea-keybindings https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=k--kato....
- d4rkp4ttern 2y ago
  Thanks! Maybe this will open me up to cursor/windsurf.

raisedbyninjas 2y ago

I keep my projects open in Cursor and Visual Studio at the same time. Cursor is only used to interact with the AI.

MoreMoore 2y ago
This is my approach as well with Cursor and Intellij IDEA.

evrenesat 2y ago

I've been a PyCharm user for over a decade, but recently decided to experiment with VS Code-like editors again. I subscribed to Windsurf pro tier, and while it's quite lacking as a traditional IDE, its AI capabilities are incredible. I'm now considering not renewing my PyCharm license next year. Until (if ever) I fully adapt to Windsurf, I'm planning to use both tools together - PyCharm for the features I'm most comfortable with (where I also use "CodeGPT.ee" plugin), and Windsurf for its AI strengths.

8f2ab37a-ed6c 2y ago

Same, would love all of these awesome AI features, but I have to use Rider.

cube2222 2y ago

Yeah, agreed. Personally, I'm using Goland for editing, along with Zed for its AI assistant. I just have the same project open in both, and do any AI editing in Zed. I really like the AI UX in Zed with the chat window on the right being context for inline assist (and being able to easily include tons of files in the context window).

raincole 2y ago

I personally jumped between Rider and Cursor for a while, and finally settled with Rider. However I think JetBrains should be worrying. I've been using and paying for JetBrains products for many years and Cursor is the only thing making me consider switching from it.