How to Start with Windsurf (Now Devin Desktop)

1. First, the rename

If you’re looking for Windsurf: the Windsurf documentation now redirects to docs.devin.ai/desktop, where the product is called Devin Desktop — Cognition’s AI IDE. Search results and tutorials still say “Windsurf”, so expect both names.

2. Install it

Devin Desktop is a desktop app, not a CLI. Download the build for your platform from the Devin Desktop docs — macOS (Yosemite or later), Windows (10 or later), and Linux via tar, deb, or rpm packages.

3. Open a project

From the start page, choose Open Folder / Connect to Remote Server. Or from a terminal:

devin-desktop ~/Developer/my-project

Open the repo root, not a single file — the agent’s usefulness comes from seeing the whole project.

4. Run one agent task

Open the agent panel from the Command Palette (⌘+⇧+P on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux) and search for it. The docs cover both Cascade, the agent Windsurf was known for, and a newer Devin Local agent — which one your build opens depends on your version, so check the panel rather than assuming.

Give it one concrete job and review the diff before accepting:

Extract the duplicated date formatting in reports/ into a single helper and use it everywhere.

5. Where rules live

Rules are Markdown files that the agent reads on every task — your conventions, stack, and things it should never do:

.devin/rules/          preferred
.windsurf/rules/       legacy fallback, still read
AGENTS.md              repo-level instructions

Rules are discovered in your workspace directory, in any sub-directory of it, and in parent directories up to the git root. You can also create them in the UI: the Customizations icon in the top-right slider menu, then the Rules panel, then + Global or + Workspace.

Auto-generated memories stay on your machine. Anything you want to survive and be shared with teammates belongs in a rule file or AGENTS.md, committed to the repo.

Next: Cursor first steps or giving a coding agent the right context.