Cursor aims to make coding more about interacting with large language models, envisioning a future where this becomes the primary way of development, rather than just autocomplete.

Cursor.sh is an AI-powered code editor that aims to enhance developer productivity and efficiency. Cursor is a fork of Visual Studio Code (VSCode) that integrates advanced AI capabilities to assist developers in various tasks. The main features of Cursor include:

Codebase understanding: Cursor can understand the context of your codebase and provide tailored code suggestions and explanations. It can list all files in a solution and summarize their purpose. 

Code generation: Cursor’s built-in “Copilot++” feature can generate code based on simple instructions, allowing developers to focus on higher-level tasks. 

Contextual assistance: Cursor’s AI can follow the flow of your code edits and suggest the next logical steps, helping developers stay in the flow. 

The key differences between Cursor and GitHub Copilot (that can be used from Visual Studio) are that Cursor is reported to have more advanced code generation abilities compared to Copilot, with the ability to directly modify and change the code, not just suggest completions. Cursor’s AI seems to have a better grasp of the codebase context and can provide more relevant and summarized information about the files and their purpose. Cursor integrates more seamlessly with the VS Code experience, allowing users to navigate directly to files from the chat interface, which is a feature missing in Copilot. 

GitHub Copilot is generally cheaper than Cursor, especially for open-source contributors who can access Copilot for free. Cursor costs $20/month. 

Cursor claims to use a more powerful language model (GPT-3.5) compared to the smaller model powering Copilot. However, both tools now use the GPT-4 model.