Cursor Documentation

What the docs cover

Cursor's documentation lives at cursor.com/docs, with a shorter, question-and-answer help centre alongside it. Together they cover everything you touch in daily use:

• Getting started: installing the editor, importing VS Code settings and the quickstart.
• Tab and inline edit: how completions work, accepting word by word, and editing a selection with Cmd+K or Ctrl+K.
• Agent: the tools it can use, checkpoints, queued messages, Plan mode, Ask mode and Debug mode.
• Customising: project rules in .cursor/rules as .mdc files, AGENTS.md support, skills, subagents, hooks and MCP servers.
• Security: agent guardrails, Run Modes (Auto-review, Allowlist and Run Everything), sandboxing, .cursorignore and Privacy Mode.
• Beyond the editor: Bugbot for pull request review, Cloud Agents and the Cursor CLI, started with the agent command.

Is it worth reading, or just searching?

Read a few pages properly, then search the rest when you need them. The pages worth reading end to end early on are the quickstart, the Agent overview, Rules, the ignore file reference and Run Modes. Together they take an evening and explain most of the surprises new users hit: why a rule in a .md file is ignored, why the Agent can edit files without asking, and why ignore rules do not stop a terminal command from reading a file.

Everything else, such as keyboard shortcuts, MCP configuration or cloud agents, is best looked up when you need it.

Why the official docs beat tutorials here

AI coding tools change every few weeks. Modes get renamed, settings move and new features replace old ones. A video from last year may show menus that no longer exist. The docs are updated with the product, so when a tutorial and the docs disagree, trust the docs. Each page is also available as plain Markdown, which makes it easy to read in a terminal or paste into your own notes.

How it fits the Coding with AI tools roadmap

The Sefism roadmap for Cursor links to specific pages at each stage: rules and ignore files when you set up project context, Plan mode when you learn to prompt, Debug mode when you debug, and Run Modes and agent security when you give the Agent more autonomy. Use the roadmap for the order and the judgment, and the docs for the exact, current details.

Common questions

Is it free? Yes, the documentation is free to read without an account. Cursor itself has a free Hobby plan and paid plans.

Do I need to know VS Code first? It helps. Cursor is built on VS Code, so the docs assume you know the basics of opening folders, the command palette and extensions.

Where do I get help beyond the docs? The help centre answers common questions and links to Cursor support.