# How to Use Cursor: A 10-Minute First-Edit Tutorial

> Cursor in ten minutes: Tab completions, Cmd/Ctrl K inline edits, the Agent sidepane on Cmd/Ctrl I, and how to review or undo what Agent wrote.

- Canonical: https://guides-ai.pages.dev/guides/cursor-first-steps/
- Plate 08.01 · Topic: Cursor (https://guides-ai.pages.dev/topics/cursor/)
- Published: 10 Jun 2026 · Updated: 06 Sept 2026 · 3 min read
- Source site: guides-ai — https://guides-ai.pages.dev/

Cursor is VS Code with three AI entry points: Tab for completions, `Cmd/Ctrl K` for an edit on the
lines you selected, and the Agent sidepane on `Cmd/Ctrl I`. Ten minutes is enough to land one real
change with all three.

## 1. Open your project folder

**File → Open Folder** and pick the repository root, not a single file: Agent searches and edits
inside the folder you opened.

## 2. Learn the four keys

| Action | macOS | Windows and Linux |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Accept a Tab suggestion | `Tab` | `Tab` |
| Accept only the next word | `Cmd →` | `Ctrl →` |
| Inline edit on the selection | `Cmd K` | `Ctrl K` |
| Toggle the Agent sidepane | `Cmd I` or `Cmd L` | `Ctrl I` or `Ctrl L` |
| Add the selection to chat | `Cmd Shift L` | `Ctrl Shift L` |

Cursor's [shortcuts reference](https://cursor.com/docs/reference/keyboard-shortcuts) lists the
macOS bindings; Windows and Linux swap `Cmd` for `Ctrl`.

## 3. Make one inline edit

Select the lines, press `Cmd/Ctrl K`, describe the change:

```text
add a guard clause that returns early when userId is missing
```

What it does: scopes the request to the selected lines rather than the whole file, so the result
is small enough to read.

## 4. Give Agent a job that spans files

```text
@auth.ts add rate limiting to the login route, with a test beside the existing ones
```

What it does: `@`-mentions pull the named files into context. [Agent](/glossary/#agent) can search
the codebase, read and edit files, and run terminal commands — real
[tool use](/glossary/#tool-use) — and it applies edits automatically, so review happens after the
write, not before it.

## 5. Verify it worked

```bash
git diff --stat
```

What it does: lists every file Agent touched and by how much — the fastest check that it stayed
inside what you asked for. Run the tests next.

Cursor also takes checkpoints: snapshots made automatically before significant changes in a
session. Click one in the chat timeline to preview it, or restore it to put every file back to
that state — local, and separate from Git.

## Failure mode: an edit you did not want, already on disk

Because Agent writes as it goes, a vague instruction lands before you see it. Restore the
checkpoint from just before the run, then ask again scoped to one file and one function — a
session safety net, not a substitute for committing first.

Standing rules — framework, test style, paths to leave alone — belong in
[a rules file](/guides/cursor-rules-file/) rather than in every prompt, and the outside tools
Agent reaches are worth pinning down too: see
[MCP servers in Cursor](/guides/cursor-mcp-servers/).