What we'll cover
The Basics
Productive in 5 minutes
Indexing
How it reads your code
Agent Modes
Pick your gear
Rules
Teach it YOUR style
Skills & Automation
Active workflows that do the work
MCP & Plugins
Connect all the things
Cloud & CLI
Beyond the editor
How I Use It
Daily workflow & subagents
Tips & Wrap-up
Don'ts, possibilities & toolkit
It's VS Code, but it actually understands your code.
Reads your code
Writes & edits
Runs commands
A junior that never sleeps, never complains, and types 10,000 WPM.
The only 3 shortcuts you need
Agent Panel
Talk to the AI
Inline Edit
Quick edits on selected code
Switch Mode
Agent / Ask / Plan
Your first prompt
No config. No plugins. No setup.
The @ trick
Don't make the AI guess — point it to exactly what matters.
@src/components/Button.tsx Point to a file@src/services/ Point to a folder@codebase Search everything@docs React Read documentation@git diff Look at changesHow Cursor knows your code
100% local. Auto-updates as you edit. @codebase gives you millisecond semantic search.
What it should ignore
Why bother?
Faster indexing
Less noise in AI context
Keeps secrets out of prompts
Same syntax as .gitignore — if you know one, you know both.
Pick your gear
Agent
The doer
Writes code, runs commands
Ask
The explainer
Reads only — touches nothing
Plan
The architect
Thinks first, builds second
Debug
The detective
Traces bugs step-by-step
YOLO
The madlad
Auto-approves everything
Switch anytime with Shift Tab
Think first, build second
Understand scope
Read existing auth flow, identify touchpoints
Database changes
Add password_reset_tokens table with expiry column
API endpoint
POST /auth/forgot-password — validate, generate token, send mail
Reset page
New route /reset-password?token=... with form + validation
Tests
Token expiry, invalid token, password mismatch, happy path
Review the plan -> approve -> it builds exactly this.
Without rules, you correct the AI every. single. time.
30%
acceptance rate with rules
~30%
without rules
This is the #1 productivity lever for any team.
A rule is just a markdown file
alwaysApply: true every chat, always activeglobs: ["**/*.tsx"] only when matching files openneither agent decides when to use itWhere do rules live?
project/
└── .cursorrules
One markdown file in your root.
All rules in one place.
Great for getting started.
project/
└── .cursor/
└── rules/
├── react-components.mdc
├── api-patterns.mdc
├── testing.mdc
└── code-style.mdc
Per-topic rules with glob patterns.
Each rule targets specific files.
Scales with your team.
Start with .cursorrules — upgrade to the folder when you need per-file control.
Rules vs Skills vs Commands
Rules
Passive guidance
"How to write code"
"Use named exports"Skills
Active workflows
"Do this multi-step task"
"Scaffold a service"Commands
Saved prompts
Quick shortcuts
"/commit"Don't know how to write rules?
our React component conventions.
Read @src/components/ for
examples of our style."
The AI is amazing at setting itself up.
Skills I actually use
Each skill is a multi-step workflow the agent executes autonomously.
Example: standup-prep skill
I say "standup" at 08:45. Cursor does the rest:
Zero prep time. I just read it out loud.
MCP — Model Context Protocol
One prompt. No tab switching. No copy-pasting.
Real prompts with MCP
What is a plugin?
A plugin bundles rules, skills, and MCP servers into a single installable package.
Rules
Skills
MCP
Think of it as an extension — but for your AI, not your editor.
Setting up plugins / MCP
Browse & install from the web marketplace or via Cursor Settings.
// .cursor/mcp.json { "mcpServers": { "jira": { "command": "npx", "args": ["mcp-jira"] } } }
Cursor can help you set up and configure any plugin.
Always review the settings to limit what tools can do.
Tip: Cmd + Shift + J opens Cursor Settings directly.
Cursor CLI — AI in your terminal
Don't even need to open the IDE. Works in CI/CD too.
Cloud Agents — set it and forget it
Go get coffee. Come back to a finished PR.
My daily workflow
"standup"
AI gathers git, Jira, calendar
"break down JLROV-456"
Ticket → TODO list with estimates
Agent Mode
AI handles boilerplate, I decide
"check my code"
Pre-MR catches 3 issues
"eod"
Summarizes day, commits WIP
The hype man rule
Bro. You've been SHREDDING today.
Look at this git log — 12 commits!
That's SOLID work.
This bug? It's just a wave. You ride waves.
Here's the actual issue:
→ The useEffect dependency array is missing
the `locale` variable on line 47.
Hype first, then actually help. Morale game-changer.
Subagents — parallel delegation
Faster + deeper analysis than a single pass.
Common mistakes
What NOT to do
Remember your first prompt?
while the API call is in progress."
Same task. Massively better result.
Possibilities for every role
Developers
Scaffold features from tickets
Auto-generate tests & docs
Review PRs with context
Marketing
Generate campaign copy
Analyze competitor content
Create A/B test variants
Sales
Draft personalized outreach
Summarize client history
Build proposal decks
Project Managers
Break down epics into tasks
Write sprint retrospectives
Generate status reports
Let me show you what this looks like in action...
My favorite plugins & skills
Spawn multiple AI agents to work on different parts simultaneously
Let the agent look up docs, APIs, and current info in real-time
Rules & skills that evolve as the agent learns your codebase
Test & interact with APIs directly from prompts
My npm package — automated QA flows for frontend, backend & E2E
My toolkit
MCP Servers
Custom Skills
Rules & Context
Integrations
~40 custom rules & skills, all version-controlled
Questions?
Luca Vandenweghe
React Developer @ iO Digital
Useful links
Scan for GitHub
Thanks for listening!