The traditional design-to-engineering handoff is plagued by tedious pixel-pushing. As AI coding tools empower designers to make visual code changes themselves, they will reject this inefficient back-and-forth, fundamentally changing team workflows.
Build products on simple, foundational concepts rather than complex, rigid features. These core building blocks can then be combined and layered, leading to emergent complexity that allows the product to scale and serve diverse needs without being overwhelming by default.
Instead of creating static mockups in Figma, Cursor's design team prototypes directly in their AI code editor. This allows them to interact with the "life states of the app" and get a more realistic feel for the product, bridging the gap between design and engineering.
In the fast-evolving AI space, detailed long-term roadmaps are a "waste of time." Cursor opts for a flexible approach guided by a high-level "fuzzy direction" rather than a rigid plan. This allows them to adapt to new models and user behaviors quickly.
The idea for "Plan Mode" came from observing power users who manually prompted the AI to outline a plan before writing code. By formalizing this user-invented "hack" into a dedicated feature, Cursor made a complex but effective workflow accessible to everyone.
At the AI-native company Cursor, roles are "really muddy." Team members contribute based on individual strengths—like visual design or systems architecture—and use AI agents to bridge skill gaps and tie work together. This creates a more fluid and efficient team structure.
Instead of prompting for code line-by-line, "Plan Mode" has the AI agent generate a detailed plan in a markdown file first. The user reviews and modifies this plan like a spec document, elevating their role from coder to architect before the AI executes the build.
To create a distinctive retro UI, Cursor's designer researched historical UI patterns and assets—a process he calls "UI archeology." This provided specific constraints to the AI, preventing it from generating generic designs and allowing him to "paint" a unique style over standard components.