When we started building Cursor a few years ago, most code was written one keystroke at a time. Tab autocomplete changed that and opened the first era of AI-assisted coding.
Then agents arrived, and developers shifted to directing agents through synchronous prompt-and-response loops. That was the second era. Now a third era is arriving. It is defined by agents that can tackle larger tasks independently, over longer timescales, with less human direction.
As a result, Cursor is no longer primarily about writing code. It is about helping developers build the factory that creates their software. This factory is made up of fleets of agents that they interact with as teammates: providing initial direction, equipping them with the tools to work independently, and reviewing their work.
Many of us at Cursor are already working this way. More than one-third of the PRs we merge are now created by agents that run on their own computers in the cloud. A year from now, we think the vast majority of development work will be done by these kinds of agents.
From Tab to agents
