Cursor is the most popular agentic IDE — a full VS Code fork with multi-model AI (Claude, GPT, Gemini) baked in as first-class primitives. Features include Composer (multi-file edit mode), Agent (autonomous mode that can modify multiple files and run commands), Tab (best-in-class autocomplete), and Background Agents (long-running tasks that work while you do something else).
Cursor runs as a VS Code fork — familiar UI, extension compatibility, but with AI features added directly to the editor. You invoke AI via chat (Cmd+L), Composer mode (Cmd+I for multi-file edits), or the Agent pane for autonomous work. .cursorrules files provide persistent project-level instructions similar to CLAUDE.md. The privacy mode sends your code to Cursor's servers for inference but doesn't train on it.
Free tier: 50 premium requests/month, 2000 Tab completions. Pro: $20/month with 500 fast premium requests + unlimited slow. Business: $40/month per user with team features and privacy controls.
Shopify, Vercel, OpenAI employees, Perplexity, Notion, and hundreds of thousands of individual developers. The most popular paid AI coding tool in 2026.