Cursor AI tutorial for beginners

In this episode, I am joined by Ras Mic, a full stack engineer & YouTuber, where we dive deep into the frameworks and strategies on how to best use Cursor AI. Mic shares his unique insights into how to use and set up Cursor to make the experience of building on top of Cursor as easy and seamless as possible. Learn how to use Cursor like a pro!

1) Plan before coding
• Sketch out ideas (Figma, iPad, paper)
• Use V0 for mockups (10-15 prompts minimum)
• Set your AI assistant up for success
"Half the game is acting like a developer" - Mike

• Copy tech-specific prompts
• Create .cursor_rules file in project root
• Drastically improves Cursor's output
Pro tip: Customize prompts for your exact tech stack

3) Tag relevant documentation
• Ensures up-to-date, accurate responses
• Cursor reads docs when answering queries

4) Ask other AI models when stuck
• Copy errors to Claude, GPT-4, etc.
• Include failed solutions for better context
• Different models can solve problems others can't

5) Use AI to explain code
• Great for learning & documentation
• Ask to explain like you're a beginner
• Follow up on confusing concepts
"The more you do this, the more you learn patterns" - Mike

6) Leverage existing code templates
• Start with boilerplate (auth, DB, payments)
• Build on top of proven foundations
• Saves time on repetitive tasks

7) Add comments to your code
• Ask AI to explain & document your code
• Improves readability & understanding
• Great for team collaboration

8) Duplicate & modify existing functionality
• Copy working code from other parts of your project
• Ask AI to adapt it for new use cases
• Provides context for better results
Key takeaway: Give AI as much context as possible for best results!

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Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
02:20 Tip 1: Plan before coding
19:28 Tip 3: Tag relevant documentation
26:12 Tip 4: Ask other AI models when stuck
29:40 Tip 5: Use AI to explain code
35:22 Tip 6: Duplicate & modify existing functionality
36:24 Tip 7: Leverage existing code templates

[rasmic]

I really appreciate the opportunity bro!!! Thanks for having me on, happy to answer any questions if anyone has!!!!

[philkellr]

What a great episode. Not only is Ras Mic super knowledgable - he also has such a great vibe. Thanks for inviting him to the show, Greg

[mohit-tater]

15 minutes into the video, and I've already picked up some practical and sensible tips. Great Video.

[BashaDamba]

Coming from a design background, I automatically just design all my screen explicitly before starting to build out in Cursor. This has significantly made the apps i build better and the whole process much simpler because it knows and I know what I am looking for. There are times when I have to tweak designs when building to maintain or update certain functionalities but overall it is a seamless process and I have a lot of fun bringing the ideas in my head into life.

[legalcoffee]

This is awesome! I totally agree that learning AI, LLMs, coding - no matter the industry - is important. I believe people that learn how to incorporate this tech into work flows will be at a significant advantage over those that don’t.

[IAmJakeDewar]

Amazing. It feels as though we are on the precipice of something revolutionary. Thank you for the content!

[quiestce]

I feel like I'm exactly the target audience for this content. A 'Cursor' newbie who can plan a service or be proficient with Figma, but not with coding, that's me. I found it easy to understand and didn't get bored in the slightest during the 40 minutes. My only suggestion would be to add vetted English subtitles so that more people can consume content like this. It would help non-English speakers understand exactly what you're talking about. Thanks to both of you for sharing this content.

[mikepollasky]

This is the best one of these I’ve seen, and there’s about a 1000 lurking in any search that mentions Cursor. Mic is great, his thoughts and approach on the planning items is everything my instinct was telling me and just hadn’t heard anyone with experience like his say yet. You could bring him on for a monthly guest series to check-in on the latest in AI app dev for non-coders - and not run out of new stuff to cover for the next 2yrs.

[Phutz]

This is awesome, for many people that dont have software development background. The process he was talking about is what SDLC covers. In corporate the part he started with would be done by business analyst and product managers. On a small project one person is doing everything, but Ai is really making it possible to build a full product with jus two people at most..

[timbukstu]

Learned while you build and build while you learn. That’s leverage. 🔥

[Willemsims]

These cursor videos that you're doing are getting more and more helpful. Thank you!

[dangreco]

Awesome content as always Greg! This is the future of rapid prototyping. As a product manager I've been playing with Cursor but this workflow takes it to the next level. Interactive prototypes are basically dead now that you can actually render low fidelity beta versions for user testing or experimentation.

[Jonesrful]

Love seeing the highlight of rasmic.

Just discovered him recently.

So cool.

[AdminOne-hjdt]

Ras Mic is an awesome developer. I have learnt alot from him.

[jarad]

Best beginner cursor video by far with planning and system instruction etc and its not even an ai or coding channel, excellent job guys, rasmic excellent teacher brother, you other more relevant accounts up your game people

[mattish]

As a full time software engineer, the typical developer mindset is to immediately jump into code LOL.

[bruhmoment]

20:29 Import documentation
26:38 use other AI models if cursor is stuck and tell them the solutions you tried
38:05 use templates

[mikemarrotte]

This makes me SO PUMPED to get into making ideas that otherwise have been impossible for me to build. Bravo boyyos!

[DevdattaTV]

This was gold! Thanks @rasmic. I running my venture into Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality space over a decade. Being a founder, got into so many other responsibilities that I left coding few years ago. This video excited me to develop VR app with Unity and Meta Quest / Apple Vision Pro

[mfarnell]

been using cursor for a while and that was super helpful!