Mastering Cursor: My No-Frills Guide to Building 17+ Projects

Cursor’s a beast of a tool — an AI that can crank out code, tweak it, and squash bugs faster than you’d think possible. But here’s the honest truth: if you’re just throwing random prompts at it, you’re missing out on most of what it can do. After shipping over 17 products with Cursor, I’ve hammered out a no-nonsense playbook that squeezes every drop of its potential. Let’s start — plain talk and practical steps.

1. Don’t Wing It — Map It Out

I’ve watched devs fire up Cursor and start barking orders like “code me an app.” Half the time, it ends in a mess — broken logic and hours lost. My fix? Before you touch a prompt, set up a folder with the basics, all scribbled in Markdown:

• PRD: A quick note on what you’re building — like prd.md saying, “Todo app with login and task management.”
• Tech Stack: Jot down your tools in stack.md: “Next.js frontend, Supabase backend, Tailwind for looks.”
• File Layout: Sketch a structure in structure.md:

/app
  /pages
  /components
/db

• Rules of the Road: Drop guidelines in frontend.md (“Stick to hooks”) and backend.md (“Keep APIs simple”).
• .cursorrules: A little file to nudge Cursor’s style — I’ll get to that later.

Think of it like handing a contractor a floor plan instead of muttering, “Build me something cool.”

2. Start with a Skeleton

Cursor’s not at its best when you ask it to dream up code from nothing. It thrives when there’s something to chew on. I lean on tools like V0 or Bolt to whip up working screens — say, a signup form — then haul that code into Cursor for the heavy lifting. Here’s how it plays out:

• Bolt spits out a basic Next.js form:

function Signup() {
  return (
    <div>
      <input placeholder="Email" />
      <button>Sign Up</button>
    </div>
  );
}

• I tell Cursor, “Wire this up with Supabase auth.” It comes back with:

import { supabase } from '../lib/supabase';
import { useState } from 'react';

function Signup() {
  // Add state for email input
  const [email, setEmail] =…